/lit/ - Literature

>>16323090
So now that the dust has settled and the wen on the arse of fantasy literature has been lanced.... you come to ME for HELP?

NK Jemisin

>>16323090
>What's the worst book that you've finished?
If it get's that bad I just drop it.
Life is too short to read bad fiction.

>>16323128
>mieville
This is the same faggot who sabotaged commie groups by fronting for SJW idpol nutters.
He is at the forefront of mollycoddling people from reality.

Do people actually like this Mary Sue?

>>16323150
Man they love her.

>>16323150
Dunno about that series but I'm reading his Safehold books and they're pretty decent.

Hot damn!
New Blidopraxia fan art.
If it wasn't for you fags I would have completely forgotten about that Canadian criminal's blog.

>what's the worst you have finished
Perdido street station.
It really fucking drops the ball so fucking hard at end that you are astounded about how utterly wasted the last 500 pages where.
One of the worst reading experiences I had in a long time.

>>16323214
Maybe China is too much of a chad for you?

>>16323090
I think I've read that book. Isn't that where the author turns out to be a massive weeaboo in book 2?
Holy shit, that was bad.

>>16323133
Yet it's not too short to spend your time here.

>>16323131
>>16323133
The Stone Sky
NOT racist, just didn't like it

>>16323131
She's pretty decent but /lit/ will say otherwise because she has 2 traits that repel this board.
>>16323090
For me its Mistborn. My God. Why? This is everything horrible with fantasy today: YA themes; inspired by Dungeons and Dragons instead of religion, mythology, and history; and the final nail in the cofffin wish fulfilment characters. Fuck me I wanted to kill myself.

Where to start with Iain Banks culture? I see a lot of people saying to skip Consider Phlebas, are they retards?
I just read The Bridge and I want more.

>>16323233
Do you really feel that you (and other anons here) have so little to offer?
Have more faith in yourself anon.

>>16323234
Well the fat, angry black women can't write after all.

This is definitely the worst SFF book I've finished. I later found out the author is trans, so I feel confident it only got published for the diversity points

>>16323223
Let me spoiler some shit about Perido
>slightly criminal MC helps the Bird person regain flight after he was deprived from it due to an punishment
>kills several innocent people on the way sometimes directly and with his own hands
>completely drops the whole fucking purpose of why the book happened when he finds out that Birdperson didnt just forget to pay his parking tickets.
The whole book is one big useless endeavor I might have stomached of not for the fact that it is so fucking long.
He's a tremendous faggot and a hack.

>>16323214
I too felt like the book went to shit after they kidnaped Vermishank (Mr. exposition dump), got all the mystery out of the way
Basically didn't care for the gear shit, when the book turned into "action"

I really liked exploring the, relatively, peaceful city at the beginning of the novel
Getting a view into the daily life of the seditionist butcher, and such

But, then the plot just exploded

>>16323267
That is some awful CG.

>>16323266
yes they are retards. just read it in publishing order. you can skip any of the books if you're just not interested in them (i did that for 2 of them but enjoyed the rest) after a decent way in, but theres enough world building in each book that you wont feel like you dont know what the setting is, its not that complicated , including Phlebas

The patreon thot consoomer is back. Ugh.

Kingkiller Chronicle. Not all of it was trash, but a lot of it was just gay bullshit, for many reasons discussed ad nauseum.

>>16323266
Consider Phlebas is mediocre writing incarnate.
Just read The Player of Games and ignore everything else.

after watching the Dune trailer i kind of wanna read the book
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9xhJrPXop4&ab_channel=WarnerBros.Pictures
but i find the idea of a space faring civilization not using computers in any form retarded and impossible and nonsensical
what do you guys think?

>>16323266
I've only read Player of Games, and it was excellent as a standalone

>>16323150
I have listened to all 14 books of the honorverse main storyline yes, why do you ask?

Any Roman inspired fantasy?

>>16323309
What do you mean?
It has been made in grorius China.

>>16323330
>but i find the idea of a space faring civilization not using computers in any form
Have you even cracked open the book?
Also I am still not sold on the movie.

>>16323326
player of games was one of the ones i couldnt finish. i just didnt give a fuck about the rules of some less-advanced aliens stupid game. i want to know more about the universe the Culture is in, how their utopian space commie society is structured, the minds that run it, big picture stuff. and his writing is pretty much the same throughout so either you like the setting or you dont

Finished reading 'The Claw of the Conciliator' (first time reading the series) yesterday. Several questions if you don't mind:

1. What did exactly happen at the end of 'The Shadow of the Torturer' so that Severian was separated from Dorcas and the troupe of actors? Maybe it has eluded me, but I don't think any sort of explanation has been given so far. Do the next two books clarify this part?

2. Severian falls in love with every woman he sees, what's up with that? He even mentions Morwenna fondly in the second book when recollecting his past affections. Should I interpret this as a kind of personal trauma?

3. The rise and fall of Jolenta totally went over my head. So, she was a fabrication of Talos all along, and that's why she commited suicide when the charm/surgeries died off? There never were "blood bats" at all, right?

4. The House Absolute and the Citadel in Nessus are somehow connected, that's why the blind art conservator was there when Severian was in the House Absolute. Correct?

5. The book that Severian is shown at the House Absolute and that makes his face bleed a bit... I have no idea what was that (he seems to call lasers "mirrors" for some reason). Should I re-read that chapter until I get it?

>>16323346
>Have you even cracked open the book?
no. but that one plot point bothers me. i think some ppl were describing it in one of these threads, how even a shitty computer has infinite more processing power than a human. im not saying i only read hard SF but this is just kind of dumb, i want it to be at least possible
>Also I am still not sold on the movie.
TV show

>>16323090
>What's the worst book that you've finished?
Objectively worst? Some light novel.
Though I don't really regret having read them since they're at least enjoyable/fun

Worst for me (aka least enjoyable)? Probably God Emperor of Dune.
I was already sick of all the pseudo-phisolophical bullshit when I went into it, and surprise surprise that book is 80% pseudo-phisolophical bullshit.

>>16323133
>>16323234
>>16323267
>Well the fat, angry black women can't write after all.

I've ranted about this once before.
But when I go into the fantasy genera, I'dd like it to be fantastical, not some incredibly obvious allegory for racism
I don't even know what the message was in the end; it's OK. to keep the cycle of violence going because the world is built on violence?
I don't think you where supposed to hate the main characters (at least, not for the reasons I did), but in the end I did.

To me it comes off as extremely one-note, I'm not American, I'm not black, I live in a totally different part of the world, these issues does not speak to me, they do not seem universal
Which would be alright, one book, didn't click for me. But it turns out be be EVERY piece of fiction created by a black person I've ever touched. Same messages, again and again. One-note.

That said, the villain being the MC's daughter, opting to end the world, because there is evil in the world, thus ending evil. Watch much anime recently Jemisin?
I can deal with gay pirate-island, I cannot deal plot suddenly turning to the simplest clichés

Think I liked a lot of the stuff that was flashbacks, not just the 1000+ years ago stuff, but with the MC before the world exploded, after that the plot was dumb
Jemisin obviously put a lot of thought into this world, but it was so riddled with plot holes, it got on my nerves.
Maybe practice some of the common-sense these books keeps on preaching?

>>16323362
1. It is never explained, but think of it as panic in a huge tunnel caused by something, leading to many dead and injured people

2. He has twisted definition of love, you can basically always replace "love" with sexual lust, for him horny = to be in love

3. Jolenta was the waitress from the Inn where Talos and Severian first met. Talos (who is in fact a robot) used some body altering procedure on her that made her irresitibly beautiful, but damaged her health in the process causing her dead in the end

4. Possibly, never said directly though

5. No, you won't be able to understand it until you read the Urth of the new sun

Read Black Company. First book was great, I liked the pacing and the overall setting of the world. It did "grimdark" right unlike Abercrombie who makes his setting and characters so edgy it borders on parody. Unfortunately after the first book the quality of the writing takes a nosedive that gets worse and worse. I will say that the ending was satisfying at least.

>>16323133
I cannot stop reading a book once I started no matter how bad it is.

>>16323372
You should probably read it.
Whoever was discussing Mentats in Dune completely missed the point. They are a product of societal taboos on creation of thinking machines. That does not mean the rest of said society is forced to use pen and paper. Also that does not mean that Mentats are walking Cray supercomputers from future. While possessing impressive cognitive abilities, their primary function was meaningful analysis and insights into the vast amounts of data at their disposal.
The civilization in Dune, while not using computers, is able to fare in space due to Guild Navigators, mutants able to see past, present and future in a limited form.

>>16323490
I like Abercrombie

>>16323362
1. It's an ambiguous solution to redirect the plot (split the group in some way). It's unclear why it happens or what happens (teleportation), but it's very likely the uhlans overreacted. Maybe they sensed Hethor. Security has some very advanced technology measures but they're not fully deployed. Some have argued that maybe Abaia started something to probe the system or whatever.

2. Maybe.

3. She was and Talos stopped attending to her. There probably were actual blood bats, but I don't recall if that's what got her.

4. The Citadel is huge. Think of it as a medieval fortress, where they had libraries, and stuff. The House Absolute is the center, the King's/Autarch's center of operations. The conservator was not blind, that was the Librarian (clear reference to Borges btw). Some have argued the curator was Father Inire in disguise. But, yeah, they are connected.

5. I don't remember. Mirrors and lasers go hand in hand, yes.

The Last Centurion by John Ringo, 2008 mutated bird flu starts spreading from China in 2019, resulting in global pandemic

"Bandit Six", the book's protagonist, discusses his adventures following a withdrawal from the Middle East by U.S. forces in a time of chaos and disease. He commands a Stryker company that is left behind in Iran to guard a U.S. military equipment depot after a worldwide outbreak of mutated bird flu. He and his company repeat the journey of the Ten Thousand to return home, where he assists in agricultural recovery efforts and leads a military operation to regain control of a major American city

>Centurions were the guardians of Rome. At the height of the Roman Republic there were over five thousand qualified Roman Centurions in the Legions. To be a Centurion required that, in a mostly illiterate society, one be able to read and write clearly, to be able to convey and create orders, to be capable of not only performing every skill of a Roman soldier but teach every skill of a Roman soldier.

>Becoming a Centurion required intense physical ability, courage beyond the norm, years of sacrifice and a total devotion to the philosophy which was Rome. When Rome fell to barbarian invaders, there were less than five hundred qualified Centurions. Not because Rome had fewer people but because it had fewer willing to make the sacrifices. And the last Centurions left their shields in the heather and took a barbarian bride . . .

>We are . . . The Last Centurions.

>>16323330
The books are ok, they tackle really intersting concepts, just not in the most aproachable way. Just don't commit the mistake I did and go in expecting good plot/characters/anything that isn't the world and the concepts.

>>16322983
I can't even imagine how much time you would need to read all that, let alone everything else you've read just in xianxia.
Are you some kind of speedreader? Because a lot of those books have more than a thousand chapters.

>>16323494
I am so sorry to hear that.

>>16323448
I would chalk that up to the usual American insanity in all things concerning race (among other things).
The insanity I have absolutely zero desire to participate in.

>>16323523
Man! That book sounds so homoerotic. You ever realize how homoerotic the whole thing is?

>>16323499
I think he's improved a great deal but his writing still makes me roll my eyes.

>>16323330
They do use computers, just not "thinking machines." Microcontrollers and the like are used where necessary. It's only the complex gelcircuitry necessary for AI that's explicitly banned, but people are superstitious by nature so even things like calculators would be frowned upon as needlessly endangering others, sort of like walking around without a mask today.

>>16323567
I remember he proudly posted a tweet about his gran who used to be an English teacher telling him his writing is shit, he thought it was adorable while she pointed out the technical mistakes he was making. If only he listened...

Ongoing poll for new /sffg/ chart:

https://www.strawpoll.me/20897686

>>16323556
It doesn't take that long, some of those are just a few days per book, also I tend to read those a few hours at a time. The ones that only have MTL past a certain point I sometimes skim a bit and once or twice i've skimmed Kingdom's Bloodline because of the latest chapters boring me a bit with their misery porn but that's about it.

Note that chinese webnovel "chapters" usually aren't that long with a few exceptions. Contrast a Korean book with 150 chapters and it's closer to 300 chapters of a Chinese webnovel when it comes to character count.

>>16323330
>but i find the idea of a space faring civilization not using computers in any form retarded and impossible and nonsensical
I think its presented wrong. What happened in Dune is that nobody wants AI around. And we currently in a time where there is no AI, only silicon on chip, so we don't get what the books are about. And because of that, the books will continue to age well until TRUE AI somehow hits the marked, and maybe takes over the world.

In the first book you have:
Fucking spaceships, with forklifts and antigrav vehicles
Topters, which need some kind of Silicon on Chip mechanism to balance and fly rapidly
Personal shields, which basically need MOSFET tech to work, alongside the nuclear reactor
Laser weapons
Normal pistols, except they are easier to smuggle
The climate control of the palace
The small drone that almost kills Paul
The training rooms have combat droids, not spinning death blades as seen in the Lynch film
Antigrav belts would require some kind of electronics to work
And a lot more shit

But its a bit more obvious once you read the post Scattering book, where Ix has finally lost its monopoly of high end tech, so you got a lot of exotic variants distributed locally.
A large portion of Heretics and Chapterhouse is even spent on a Harkonnen controlled world, that is basically a modern city hellscape with additional dystopian tones and mega towers. Alongside automobiles and planetwide highways for cars.

>>16323562
>That book sounds so homoerotic.
You're not gonna make it anon

>>16323562
>The novel focuses on the invasion of Europe by the alien Posleen, with an emphasis on Germany. Part of the technology brought to humans by the Galactics is the ability to rejuvenate old soldiers, so that countries can draw on their combat experiences. In Germany, this leads to the controversial decision to reactivate the Waffen-SS.

>The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published a scathingly negative review by Dietmar Dath. Summing up the novel's attitude as "cool retro-fascism from the future", the reviewer wrote that the authors' main aim (apart from propagating crude stereotypes about European countries) seemed to be to pontificate about the perceived failings of Western society, such as pacifism and environmentalism, to which the rejuvenated Waffen-SS appear intended to provide a positive contrast.[1]

>Sfreviews.net's reviewer likewise expressed incredulity at the novel's ahistorical conceit of portraying the Waffen-SS as misunderstood patriots who disagreed with the Nazis' genocidal policies, and at the writers' "pandering to the wingnut extreme of the far right" by drawing analogies from protests against resistance to alien invaders to real-life antiwar movements.[2] Publishers Weekly described the novel as "audacious and deliberately shocking" in a starred review, adding that "Readers who can overcome their ideological gag reflex will be rewarded with an exciting view from "the other side of the hill."[3]

>>16323090
Why was this book bad? I thought it was decent.

So where's the best place I could use to host my own short stories?

>>16323950
pastebin?

I posted this in the writing general, but maybe here anons who are more familiar with fantasy can help:

I need some help writing my story, anons. It's for an ASOIAF /qst/. My protagonist is an evil/amoral character with an incredible grudge against the ruling noble family in his hometown. He makes a vow to his mother on her deathbed to wipe out the family. (The mother was raped repeatedly by the head of the current family, and the lands belonged to her family before the current ruling family betrayed them. The mother wants the protagonist to wipe out that family and take the land for himself.)

The trouble is that while the head of the family is an evil backstabbing bastard, his children are mostly innocent. The heir is a dutiful son who wants to help the peasants, and the daughter is a naive innocent young woman. The moral conflict of the story is how the protagonist deals with his vow to his mother when the children are so sympathetic. Only, I have no clue how to resolve this moral conflict. The "antagonists" are far more sympathetic than the protagonist, whose redeeming qualities may be his devotion to his mother, and that he wants the best for the peasants as well.

Help me resolve this conflict, should I add more flaws to the children to make them seem worse? More "good" qualities to the protagonist even though he's evil/amoral on the scale? I know the protagonist needs to be somewhat relatable for the readers to enjoy reading him.

>>16323904
>leftard hated right-wing fiction
The hell you say.

I've finished the foundation trilogy. Is it wrong that I feel like the second foundation are the bad guys even though they're supposed to be carrying out seldons plan? Mind control is bs and I am kinda irritated about the ending

>>16323966
something a bit more...official

Honestly I have no idea how much it costs to set up a domain and a webpage and all that

>>16323150
>Mary Sue
do you even know what these words mean?

As for the worst definitely volume 8 of Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest. It was truly terrible.

>>16324012
Help me out, grrmfags.

>>16324012
Either pull a "you gotta do what you gotta do" or a "woe is me, look what I've become etc. etc."

>I know the protagonist needs to be somewhat relatable for the readers to enjoy reading him.

I don't think there's a huge overlap between your audience and people who can relate to being edgy mommy's boys who've sworn to liberate peasantry from rapist motherfuckers.
Make the protag clever instead?

>>16324267
A lot of people use wordpress and then when their stories get big, they just buy a domain.

I wouldn't say it's the worst, but The Name of the Wind was really hard to finish for me. I cringed a lot.

I figured I'd give one of these a go. which should it be?

>>16324455
All of them.

Ngl OP. Me and my friends loved The Way of the Shadows back when we were 14. Still have one of my copies somewhere in my shelf

>>16324012
If you have already decided they have to die there is not much wiggle room now is there?

>>16323345
I wish

>story opens with the MC having sex with a 16 year old girl on the beach
Beyond based.

>>16323214
>>16323278

agreed with >>16323295
didn't think it was that awful, but it lost the strong sense of place and spent more time killing its characters off than developing them. should've killed off the moths earlier, they became a boring villain and there were already better ones.

Did some things right, some things wrong.

>>16323448
>>16323267

One note? Did you remember when the gay pirate killed a bunch of innocent people? Or all the people Castrima murdered to protect themselves?

Racism is realistic, seen in most societies, and thus should be a part of worldbuilding. Not NKJ's fault you're too dumb to understand experiences you've never had, but that's what fantasy is. There are few, if any, plot holes.

Not a perfect book. She did hit the deus-ex-machina button with the stone eaters a couple times tho.

>>16323562
The Polish Witcher books (and games) both deal with similar magical racism. Slit your wrists on the way back to /pol/

>>16324455
All are based but I liked Hyperion the best.

>>16324614
"Those who reject the wisdom of Milbroc, our god, bring a terrible curse upon us. A woman who engages in intercourse outside of wedlock awakes a terrible, lustful monster known as the night rapist."

Just keeps getting better.

>>16324627
>>>/lgbt/

>>16324627
There is racism, and then there is Racism (whatever America and Jemisin is dealing with)

>>16324614
>>16324633
Well the 16 year old beach slut was raped to death by the night rapist. Didn't think the story was gonna go in that direction, but I'm glad it did.

>>16324627
>Did you remember when the gay pirate killed a bunch of innocent people? Or all the people Castrima murdered to protect themselves?
I do, and I never felt the book properly tackled that. Yes, the main character admitted to being a terrible person. But she actually was at times, and she never really redeemed herself in my eyes. Not that she had to, having a morally ambiguous main character can be very interesting.
But then at the end of the book, rockeater-boy/man is like: You are special, you can do no wrong, I saved you, and only you. (because she looked like someone important to him in the past) What the fuck was that about

>>16323710
>>16323616
>>16323543
>>16323498
ok thx

>>16324818

Honestly, that's a good point. They should've gone into it more. If anything the characters were most like something out of a Cormac McCarthy book: people made evil by an evil world.

Alabastar was, in my mind, the most evil (and the most interesting character, he illustrates most of all the hatred and insanity unequal societies create), but because he was the POV protag's friend/bf he never got the critical focus he deserved.

Hoa explicitly said he loved Syenite because she asked him if he was alright when they first met, something he would never expect a human to do.

>>16324869
Did they let Lynch get a 2nd try?

>>16324895
>Alabastar was, in my mind, the most evil
Ehhh, most broken maybe.

>>16323150
People love Mary sues, it makes their dicks feel big

>>16324942
but shes not a 'mary sue'..

>>16324818
I just remember being really put off when Hoa at the end, which really felt like the author speaking, said something to the effect of;
All those innocent nobodies that got killed, they deserved it, for daring to live in a society built on exploitation
YIEKS! Is that how black people really feel. What a massive, what you call it, not Fraudian, but a slip

>>16324627
>Racism is realistic, seen in most societies, and thus should be a part of worldbuilding. Not NKJ's fault you're too dumb to understand experiences you've never had, but that's what fantasy is. There are few, if any, plot holes.
lol her brand of "racism" certainly is a fantasy.

>>16324455
Hyperion is the best of those and it's not even close.

I'm reading about anthropomorphized rabbits that are horny. Not sure how I feel about that.

>>16324998
If it's anything but immense shame followed by torching the book, you're a massive faggot. Sorry m8.

>>16324981
He never said they deserved it, he said they shouldn't be surprised when it all comes crashing down. Alabastar killed a bunch of orogenes too, he's repeatedly described as insane.

>If a character says it the author (and by extension all black people) believes it.
There's your YIEKS right there.

>>16324988
Earth-wizards are discriminated against because they can literally kill you with their mind if you upset them when they are having a bad day, as the main characters does on multiple occasions
Or even explode the world
They are very, very dangerous
But also magic, and can be kept around as a safeguard against natural disasters

What was the allegory here?

>>16325037
Violent niggers?

Has any fantasy story in the 21st century ever had a truly unhappy and tragic ending? For that matter, has anything other than Elric had a "bad end?"

My favorite character was insane pedo-terminator

>>16323170
Safehold>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Honor Harrington

>>16324998
literally a children's book (not a bad one though in that sense) that brainlets like to pretend says something about society.

>>16325087
Why do they always draw him looking so gay?

>>16325097
because he wanted to fuck Moonglum

>>16323345
that one book Sanderson talked about where the guy was dared to write "Rome meets Pokemon" to see if the dumbest of premises could get published with a good enough writer

>>16325097
He's the anti-Conan; it's only natural he's gonna look gay.

>>16323567
yet his plots still plod along

>>16325087
Moorcock was hugely inspired by the story The Broken Sword; so much so he "borrowed" the idea of a cursed sword from it. If you haven't read it yet then read that shit because it is good. I leave it up to you to decide with version though: the original 1954 version or the revised one from the 1970s. I've only read the revised version, but the original is apparently more raw and lively with its prose.

>>16323090

Eh, I liked that series.

>>16324012
Maybe make things outside of the protagonists control idk maybe something external happened

>>16323090
Eye of the World

I cringed thru the intro scenes of Name Of The Wind and dropped it when the flashback/story started.

>>16324627
>Racism is realistic, seen in most societies, and thus should be a part of worldbuilding
Just kill yourself. Just because it exists doesn't mean I want to read about it or have it as part of the story.

Finished Mask of the Sorcerer last night. I can see why Gene Wolfe rates it so highly, as it seems like something he himself would write if he went for a slightly younger audience. The world and its mythos is imaginative, well realised and rendered with depth well beyond what I would normally expect from a <400 page novel. The plot is wildly unpredictable and at times jarring in how quickly it pivots,slackens or rushes forward. Characters are likeable enough that you'll probably wish more time was spent exploring them rather than the narrator's head.

Definitely great, but I wouldn't say I loved it / 10

>>16325351
>as it seems like something he himself would write if he went for a slightly younger audience.
Are you sure you're not just saying that because the MC is permanently stuck at 14 years of age? I'm the based anon who brought Mask of the Sorcerer to this general and there is some truly horrific imagery throughout the book. It has a pretty dark and grim tone overall; though not nihilistic.

>>16325351
I'm gonna read it just because I've read all Wolfe, and now there is no more Wolfe

>>16325402
I'm thinking more of its reading level than its content.

>>16323150
I really like how naval combat works in these stories

Any other viable "knock-off Wolfe" ?

Finished this a few days ago. Going to give it a short break before moving onto Urth. Without spoilering much, does Urth going into any more detail regarding Typhon? I found him to be utterly fascinating for how short lived he was.

Also, where do I go from here once I'm done with Urth?

>>16325634
>Typhon
Sort of

>>16325119
Codex Alera? It wasn't anything outstanding but it was better than I initially thought it'd be. Main character along with all the primary supporting cast all had a solid character arcs and the ending was satisfying and wrapped things up nicely.

>>16323137
>sabotaged commie groups by fronting for SJW idpol nutters.
What's the story there?

>>16325634
Long Sun and Short Sun are masterpieces in their own right
And they certainly expands upon Typhon

It's fucking weird, the later books got such a different mood, more optimistic this time, some faith in humanity, they are beautiful

>>16323128
cul-de-sac
u
|
d
e
|
s
a
c

>>16323150

Mary Sue? What do you mean Mary Sue?

>>16324261
Would you put the messily lives of a few hundred people and their free will over those of billions and billion? Would you take marginally importing the lives of a few folk over the course of their lives at the cost millennia of death and destruction which might never come to end?

Finished the 3 book of the demon prince series. That was the one I was looking forward to the most, and it was thew weaker of the 3, it's still better than most other sci-fi because of vance's writing, but it felt...dull. I was especting Slaneeshi-esque macabre horror and pure hedonistic pleasure in the palace of love, all I got was people enjoying nature and fine dining, with some minor hedonistic strokes, which is what I would prefer to experience but still....Kind of disappointing

>>16325634
Those milkers on that alien made me want to read wolfe.... To bad i know he is not a cooomer writer.

>>16325097
Because they went for "pretty" to sell the cover art, instead of the turbo meth addict Auswitch prisoner he looks like.
Even the comics draw him like some kind of sickly thin Rockstar with decent muscles, instead of being too frail to truly walk under his own powers.

So the question do go deeper.
Not only is he drawn as a gay symbol, he is drawn as merely a meth addict, instead of dying from meth addiction.

>>16325119
In regards to this bet, it was more specifically part of an argument about whether some settings are impossible to write good books about. Butcher argued that no concept was inherently bad, and to prove it agreed to accept any two and mix them together. The two were the lost Roman legion and Pokemon.

Want to write gay fantasy YA because I'm a faggot, worried it'll come as cheesy. Any encouraging words besides killing myself?

>>16325803
You sure about that?
>I freed her breasts, each nearly as large as her own head, and those wide thighs, which seemed to hold a new-hatched chick between them.

>>16324012
If he's an evil protagonist he should have zero problems killing anyone that stands in his way. Maybe make it so that he does a forced marriage to the young daughter and makes a full circle where he started because he wanted to kill an evil family but just ends up being a part of it. IDK

Should I start with Night's Dawn, Commonwealth, Salvation or Void?

I read Great North Road and liked most of it. I liked the mystery aspect and it was mostly a nice easy read

>>16325838
Just relax and tell the truth. If you can dream the story, with all your senses engaged, then it's going to come out great. Just don't be dishonest. Read From Where You Dream.

>>16323090
I had this book but never finished it, looked like shit

>>16323490
i really liked how they did the wizards in that book. really cool and abstract as opposed to some cunt flinging fire balls

>>16325905
So THIS is the power of Wofe...

>>16325838
when you're done make sure to create some manufactured story about how it made a straight kid suck some dicks just to try or something and try get the media controversy going

>>16325908
Hmm maybe, I just thought that it he was straight edge evil the readers might be put off. Forced marriage to the daughter is definitely an option. Is reading an evil character compelling? He just has love for his mother and need for revenge as relatable qualities, is there any character development I can do for the MC where he's not as evil any more? Or even if he is, he's still interesting to read? I'm guessing a perpetually angry and whiny character will get old very fast.

>>16326025
>I'm guessing a perpetually angry and whiny character will get old very fast.
So you'd think, but people seem to love Thomas Covenant regardless

>>16326150
Maybe if I give the MC a dry and sarcastic sense of humour it will be interesting enough to read, even if his motives and actions aren't very relatable.

>>16326189
Mostly you just have to tap into whatever the edgy kids are angry about. Every Covenant fan I know was an anti-theist in high school

>>16325808
>>16325119
Well sadly the furies don't resemble pokemon at all. Still an entertaining story.

>>16326224
They do in the first book, I don't really know why he decided to retcon that by claiming it weakened them to have forms.

>>16323090
>What's the worst book that you've finished?

second book of the Dark Tower by king. Only thing I've ever given a 1star

Elantris was so weak and bland I never touched anything else by Sanderson. City of Stairs and The Thousand Names were also really unenjoyable for me but I learned after these that I simply wasn't going to enjoy a lot of the highly rated recent stuff which is often full of hamfisted politics and opted instead for reading older works

>>16326318
>thousand names
>hamfisted politics
???
Like, I'm generally with you, the past decade has been a wasteland for fiction, but you're talking about a book that is literally, unapologetically, about European colonizers supporting a puppet regime in Africa to maintain trade routes. The main character is a lesbian, but given that Wexler makes that the case in literally every series he writes I'm pretty sure it's just his fetish.

>>16323150
yes, you don't want a cute but strong waifu?

>>16325764
I'd pick free will and chaos over controlled and calm. What is security if you lose your freedom? One of asimovs robot stories had a similar idea as well. Computers taking over and becoming baby sitters. Man can't go to war, cause violence, etc because computers control the military, the economy, everything and can fix any sabotage man did.
Pretty sad story.

listening to image related right now and having a blast

>>16323266
Consider Phlebas is a bit disconnected; we follow this shaper-shifter dude through three or four stand alone adventures until he gets locked in at the end, but it's not awful.

>>16323128
Pretty easy to bait saps here still, anon?

He's right by the way.

Maybe Elantris by the one and only, or Extinction Horizon, by Nicholas Salsbury Smith.

Eltantris was immeninently unsatisfying what with all the eureka moments. Extinction Horzion was too cliched - but at least there I knew what I was getting into.

>>16326428
>We can't go to war and cause violence this is so sad

>>16323829
It amazes me that there are still basedboys who haven't watched GK.

>>16323904
Oh hey I read that... it was kind of meh.

>>16324627
Oh noes, it's one of those politically correct cultists... and it's mad.

>>16326428
>>16326589
isn't it implied in asimov's foundation that all intelligent alient life was genocided by the robots to make sure humans are safe.. or something.. and time travel?

So you fags read any good science fiction lately?

>>16326343
Yes, that is very hamfisted. 100% apolitical is best.

The many voices in the dark are few in the light.

>>16323090
I quite liked that book, even if it wasn't particularly nuanced. Like any other medium, literature doesn't need to be complex and be 2deep4u to be enjoyable.

>>16326343
I mean, I just don't like any major parallels to real world politics at all

I straight up don't understand people who want to insert metaphors and allegories and parallels from the modern situation of our world to this genre which is about having freedom of creativity since you can make your world literally anything as well as a generous focus on escapism.

>>16326623
Children of Time which might make me read Cage of Souls, both by the same guy.

I've a few modern SF books on my backlog but fantasy is a lot more accessible in a sense, or standardized, I guess. It's easier for me to discern if some fantasy is really bad from a couple chapters, the writing being a sure sign. But with SF, on average written quite poorly (or autistically) and having concepts, ideas and settings as the main selling points, it requires more time and entails a higher risk.

I have a copy of dune on my nightstand but haven’t gotten around to reading it yet.
I’d like to read it before I see the movie.

>>16325132
based UC santa cruz mascots

Wicked.
Fuck that book, everyone told me how excellent it was. I don’t even know why I finished it.

>>16326863
Ok

>>16324514
I too, used to have awful taste.
But not THIS awful.

>>16324455
DUNC

>>16323090
Elric of Melbourne books, worst popular I’ve ever read. The story is all over the place and Elric is a tumblr self insert.

MoorCock is a hack

>>16326987

holy friggen based

>>16326983
I feel the same.
Every Moorcock story i've tried reading has been an excercise in frustration, referential hackery and bad prose.

>>16323090
>>What's the worst book that you've finished?
This one.
I admit that I fell for the meme.

>>16323150
Why wouldn't you like her?

What does /lit/ think of his books?

>>16327347
We don't.

>>16326428
>Man can't go to war, cause violence, etc because computers control the military, the economy, everything and can fix any sabotage man did.
And that is bad ....how? I mean think it logically, people still CAN go on a crazy murder rampage or anything else, they are just less likely to do so. And if they do they are prevented to cause harm.

>>16327955
>And that is bad ....how?
What happens if we run into hostile aliens?

>>16327955
War is cathartic for society, the sacrifice of individuals, very Aztecan.

>>16327347
i have herd this is like Flashman but for 40k is it true ?

>>16326589
He's a pasty pollie, what you expect?

>>16328004
>isn't it implied in asimov's foundation that all intelligent alient life was genocided by the robots to make sure humans are safe.. or something.. and time travel?

>>16327974
The super intelligent AI will deal with it, it should have computed that as a possibility.

>>16328019
no, its stated that humans must submit to the will of robots so they can be potentially safe in the future if alien life form another galaxy appears.

>>16327980
>you see killing millions on endless useless conflict is good for society you need to have war once in a while to make sure people understand how much of a living hell the world can be.
>worsening the lives of individuals in order to ensure such conflict happen is barbaric tho, Who would do such a thing?

>>16328043
>you see killing millions on endless useless conflict is good for society you need to have war once in a while to make sure people understand how much of a living hell the world can be.
Yes.

>>16328043
before ww1 was was not that bad desu, and that sentiment was spot on

>>16325094
Talking about constant rabbit by jasper fforde

>>16328031
No, I was talking about this
>ALIENS - In an afterword, Benford writes that he always wondered why there were no aliens in either the Foundation or Robot series (later combined and known as the Future History Series). Despite having read some Asimov and some analyses of Asimov, he is unaware of The End of Eternity (1955) in which Asimov postulates that humans invent time travel in the mid-20th century and become obsessed with smoothing out strife and stress in their timeline. When far future humans finally reach the stars, everyplace is occupied and "no trespassing" signs posted. The far future humans become secretive adversaries of the time techs, and send a female volunteer to entice one of them to fall in love and bring her with him on a critical mission to implement the time loop which is responsible for the invention of time travel. She explains everything to him and gives him the choice of finishing his mission, or aborting it and living there in the past with her. The result is the far future humans manage to select a timeline in which there are NO ALIENS IN THE GALAXY. Thus Asimov explains the universe of the Foundation series, which he had just completed. So much for relying on other people's analysis. Benford invents remnant alien A.I. which has been nearly exterminated by an expanding wave of explorer robots, acting to protect the humans they serve. Whatever it is they have done, it is so terrible Daneel won't talk about it, and it has been expunged from robot history. This is nothing like what Asimov would have written. Benford simply explains he is not trying to extend Asimov's ideas, but to write his own ideas based on those situations and characters. But he doesn't actually know the facts of the situations. Thus you have the specific facts to back up all the other negative reviews here.

>>16328114
well if you count end of eternity sure.
In there time travel and "fixing things" did not help humanity get past some stage and it dissapeard in the future.

>>16327990
quote from the author: "inspired to some extend by harry flashman and edmund blackadder"

>>16323508
The Citadel, while large, is still within Nessus, which is far larger. The House Absolute, as a discernible physical location is outside Nessus. However this is some implied connectivity, perhaps through advanced tech, between the House Absolute and the Citadel

>>16326835
>>16326700
Holy shit you faggots have thin skin.

>>16326744
>literature doesn't need to be complex and be 2deep4u to be enjoyable.
No one said it had to be, retard. It's just shit book, poorly written with tired cliches to the brim.

>>16326589
It's not the war part I care about it's the fact that people don't decide things for themselves anymore. It's an ai that can't be reached, that wasn't elected, etc. Just sad imo.

>>16327149
>he didn't start with the hour of the dragon
And there was your mistake. Howard gets better with Conan as he goes

>>16327149
lol nice try, anti-Conanfag.

>>16328934
Humans have proved they can't rule themselves anyway, I don't see the issue with an AI acting as God.

>>16329188
>he hasn't seen terminator
Seriously though an ai would be initially created by man. It would have biases just like us and every five seconds someone would try to hack it. No different then what we have except it's one insane ai instead of 500 corrupt morons ruling over us. I prefer my own kind to a toaster at least there is the appearance that they are effected by what they pass

Here they are!
And yes, i bought a translaited version of Dune because i couldn't find it in english

>>16329188
>I don't see the issue with an AI acting as God.
AI decides humans are too big a threat to themselves and institutes a totalitarian global regime.
AI decides the best way to preserve mankind is to do so on a smaller scale and kills 99% of humans to ensure the survival of the remaining 1%.
AI figures if keeping people alive is all that matters they don't necessarily need to be able to think, and just lobotomizes everybody and alters their DNA to reduce IQ of subsequent generations until mankind regresses to feral animals.
etc etc

Are the Witcher books an overrated meme or are they any good?

>>16329866
first 2 (short story collections) are pretty good
i got bogged down in the rest of the series and haven't finished it yet. wasn't as good. don't know how much it picks back up.

>>16324428

Man Wordpress is fucking awful.
All the italics just vanished so I have to redo them line by line, what is this? deviantart circa 2007?

Is there a single site that keeps my danm italics in place?

>>16324869
just read about the butlerian jihad, mentioned in the first book's glossary or w/e, and it will make some sense

>>16321835
PART III
<spoiler>
Orso to Pike: "Let's play Good Cop, Bad Cop."
Negotiations would have went a lot worse for everyone involved without the script. Showing that he is willing and able to follow a script is something that Bayaz holds in high regard. That doesn't show show particular competence though. Is Bayaz's overall goal world unification under his guidance? I can't discern how much Bayaz is puppeteering others and it bothers me. He keeps moving the pieces around until he gets the desired results. The pommel strike suggestion was true. Is this a repeat of Jezal vs Gorst? "History doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes".
> Sometimes I wonder why we did it.
If there wasn't magic or Bayaz, I wouldn't have doubts about this. Maybe propaganda/ideological indoctrination is the real magic of their and our age.
> Always the poor pay the price
Always
Seems Savine followed through. I was too pessimistic on multiple accounts. My thinking may have been overly influnced by the previous books.
Could even be a story collection of "This is how Bayaz & Friends orchestrated everything", though I don't think that would be commercially viable.
MARRY ME! lol
Pike addresses Vick about their common "bond".
Orso has some very unacceptable (to the ruling powers) thoughts about being Just, Kind, and Merciful so but they prove ephemeral. Sulfur appears and he immediately changes his entire way of thinking. Again, coincidence or not? I've developed quite the conspiratorial mindset when it comes to The First Law series.
Tunny is the mascot of the series I've decided.
I KNEW that Leo x Stour was going to be said. Fudanshi.
I think Stour will follow through. I don't think he cares so much about being king or any kind of civil authority so much as he cares about being able wage war and battle in general. He'll probably be quite the useful Bayaz pawn.
> I'm going where now?
Once I read this read this passage, I immediately realized that Savine & Leo & Orso x Rikke was soon to follow and was disappointed that I didn't realize it sooner. Bayaz, matchmaker extraordinaire.
Dogman is one of the most decent characters in the series that is shown much, relatively anyway. He has the Far Nose and his daughter The Long Eye. Not the slightest mention of who the mother is though.
Haroon and Rabik, more eaters? Maybe. To be seen.
> I've been sucking my brother's cock?
And how! What an amusing scene.
> Savine's message to Orso and his reaction
lel
Were these lords behind the uprising? I don't know.
>EVERYTHING
I don't want to believe that literally, but I also can't help but think it's more or less true.
> a black pit in the sky
As a result of breaking the first law? Demons. Reminded me of an early scene from the PS1 game, Wild Arms, where the sky cracks open. What a fun game and great opening song.
Rikke doesn't recognize Bayaz as The Weaver, to be seen how it actually is or if it even matters.

>>16321835
PART 3

Orso to Pike: "Let's play Good Cop, Bad Cop."
Negotiations would have went a lot worse for everyone involved without the script. Showing that he is willing and able to follow a script is something that Bayaz holds in high regard. That doesn't show show particular competence though. Is Bayaz's overall goal world unification under his guidance? I can't discern how much Bayaz is puppeteering others and it bothers me. He keeps moving the pieces around until he gets the desired results. The pommel strike suggestion was true. Is this a repeat of Jezal vs Gorst? "History doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes".
> Sometimes I wonder why we did it.
If there wasn't magic or Bayaz, I wouldn't have doubts about this. Maybe propaganda/ideological indoctrination is the real magic of their and our age.
> Always the poor pay the price
Always
Seems Savine followed through. I was too pessimistic on multiple accounts. My thinking may have been overly influnced by the previous books.
Could even be a story collection of "This is how Bayaz & Friends orchestrated everything", though I don't think that would be commercially viable.
MARRY ME! lol
Pike addresses Vick about their common "bond".
Orso has some very unacceptable (to the ruling powers) thoughts about being Just, Kind, and Merciful so but they prove ephemeral. Sulfur appears and he immediately changes his entire way of thinking. Again, coincidence or not? I've developed quite the conspiratorial mindset when it comes to The First Law series.
Tunny is the mascot of the series I've decided.
I KNEW that Leo x Stour was going to be said. Fudanshi.
I think Stour will follow through. I don't think he cares so much about being king or any kind of civil authority so much as he cares about being able wage war and battle in general. He'll probably be quite the useful Bayaz pawn.
> I'm going where now?
Once I read this read this passage, I immediately realized that Savine & Leo & Orso x Rikke was soon to follow and was disappointed that I didn't realize it sooner. Bayaz, matchmaker extraordinaire.
Dogman is one of the most decent characters in the series that is shown much, relatively anyway. He has the Far Nose and his daughter The Long Eye. Not the slightest mention of who the mother is though.
Haroon and Rabik, more eaters? Maybe. To be seen.
> I've been sucking my brother's cock?
And how! What an amusing scene.
> Savine's message to Orso and his reaction
lel
Were these lords behind the uprising? I don't know.
>EVERYTHING
I don't want to believe that literally, but I also can't help but think it's more or less true.
> a black pit in the sky
As a result of breaking the first law? Demons. Reminded me of an early scene from the PS1 game, Wild Arms, where the sky cracks open. What a fun game and great opening song.
Rikke doesn't recognize Bayaz as The Weaver, to be seen how it actually is or if it even matters.

Just read The Great and Secret Show, thought it was bretty good. Should I read pic related?

>>16330241
Part III continued

Bayaz is hedging Savine in and limiting her options. To what end?
> She wanted him no less
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_sexual_attraction
> And here, as if by magic...
Puppeteering is magical.
Jurand thought they would have an illicit affair. Forever shall it be unrequited.
> How much older she was than him
Leo is 20 (Hatred: 605, Heroes: 584, Battle of Osrung conception) and Savine should be around 28, so yeah, basically 10 years.
> Lots of brown faces around...hardly feels like the Union any more
There's the Current Events again.
And so by the exchange of necklaces, The Young Lion shall be eaten by the The Young Lamb (Orso). Early on I thought Logen may have been the Lamb. There are so many coincidences and so many small actions causing huge events as Rikke said earlier.
So who is the Owl then? Is it Rikke? Is seeing the future wisdom? Is her long eye Owl vision? In D&D Owl's Wisdom is a wisdom buff. Maybe, I don't know.
Curnsbick is truly an extraordinary inventor. Maybe too much. His newest idea is "wagon on rails". Trains are not long in the coming perhaps.
1495 oldest extant cable railway
1672 steam-powered scale model car.
1784 steam locomotive working model
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_transportation_technology
Though of course trying to relate this to their level of development is troublesome at best.
> white horse prancing at the top of a broken tower
> great door open but on the other side there was only an empty room
So they will be going to the The House of the Maker then? Maybe it's something else. I'm undecided about Abercrombie telling the plot like this. Maybe it'll be until we believe it and then "subvert expectations" when it eventually doesn't come true, but isn't that to be expected?
Was there was any "deconstruction" this time or did Abercrombie play it straight like Leo?
Stour's development is proceeding nicely and how I thought it would as previously mentioned.
Bayaz killed Jezal. Orso is now King and Savine is the back-up, as Bayaz said he always has them. I thought she'd be the new head of the bank, but that doesn't seem to be what Bayaz has planned for her. For Jezal, Brint was the back-up.
Lastly some extreme speculation that shouldn't be taken seriously:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_lamb_and_lion
This is especially a reach because I haven't noticed anything else biblical in the previous books. Possibly most of what's listed may occur but, what I'm interested in is:
> a child will lead them
HILDI CONFIRMED FOR EVENTUAL LEGENDARY LEADER!
Seems I wrote a bit. It happens.

>>16330241
>>16330249
kys yev, you stupid jew.

>>16328934
What's sad is you think you have any real control.

>>16330409
lel

>>16330257
Read
>>16330409
How convenient someone else already wrote a response for me.

>>16328934
When have people ever decided anything for themselves?

>>16329188
No doubt you'd support aliens ruling over humans as well.

>>16330490
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_and_execution_of_Nicolae_and_Elena_Ceau%C8%99escu

I finally finished the Prince of Nothing "trilogy..." and nothing fucking happened. Bakker tricked me into thinking this was a standalone trilogy when obviously it's not. So now I've started reading the next book, and it's turned into a sitcom about Kellhus's crazy family? Nobody asked for this.

>>16325926
Nights dawn then commonwealth saga, possibly maybe void trilogy, avoid everything else

>>16330661
"Nothing happened" is the dumbest critic. You just read 3 thick books and you were entertaining enough to sit through them for many, many, many hours.

>>16330677
The one thing that kept me going was wanting to know what Achamian (and Cnaiur I guess) would do when they finally decided to actually do anything (rather than mope about it). The "Achamian did nothing wrong" poster in this thread led me to believe that something with a potential for controversy would happen, and I wanted to be able to form an opinion about it, because I liked the character. Now I am probably going to have to read three more fat books just to confirm that Achamian did in fact do nothing wrong.

I'm like 25 pages into the next book at this point, and I'm calling it now: the "idiot" twin son is pulling a Claudius.

>>16330632
So each person individually and independently decided to do this?

>>16330769
he was given a trial according to the standards he himself had set up, what could be more fair than that

>>16330810
You responded to:
>When have people ever decided anything for
themselves?
which was a response to:
>people don't decide things for themselves anymore
and so on in response

What does that have to do with fairness?

>>16329866
I thought they were fucking great. One of the best if not the best book series I've read

>>16330759
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iMV9XA6t_8

>>16330842
Is it also almost the only book series you've read?

>>16330865
Yes, how did you know?

>>16330865
No and ignore >>16330888

>>16330888
How did I know you were a different poster than the one I responded to? Snide recognizes snide.

>>16330894
>>16330906
Samefag

>>16330922
There's no need to yourself like that.

>>16330759
i'm dying over your pic related

>>16330937
I'm glad. We need less people in the world with your and their sense of humor.

>>16330934
You don't decide it. If I feel there is a need then there is a need.

>>16331006
Yes, I do decide it. I am you after all. We need to stop posting like this though.

>>16331019
Yes, stop it or else...

>>16330948
I just included the image so people who haven't read I, Claudius would know what I was talking about.
But really, everyone who reads contemporary fantasy should read it, because every "intrigue" plot I've encountered is lifted straight from Graves.

>>16330948
>their
not sure who you are referring to

>>16331104
Me, presumably.

>>16331102
maybe i'm the retard here, but was claudius just playing retard, or was he a real retard?

>>16331102
People tend to think whatever they're familiar with and enjoy best is used by everything else.

>>16331112
Then who was phone?

>>16331122
He was only retarded when it came to women. The book is fiction, but in it he's clearly the best emperor of the dynasty since Augustus, although his brilliance is more scholarly than martial (and his contemporaries had no respect for that). He becomes emperor as a middle aged man of little reputation because while every other male member of the dynasty is assassinated, limping, stammering Claudius hides behind a curtain and pisses himself. The Praetorian guard think they can install him as a powerless figurehead, but he turns out to be quite capable of ruling.
He's not faking the limp or the stammer, but during Caligula's cruel reign Poor Uncle Claudius does intentionally play up his guilelessness to avoid being assassinated or exiled as a potential rival to his young nephew. He lets Caligula and his incestuous sisters constantly humiliate him so that he won't be perceived as a threat to anyone.

>>16331216
i watched the tv special - very enjoyable
thank you for your insight
though i was being silly in asking, i did need a bit of clarification from someone in the know
ty

100 years of loneliness, damn this book sucked. The whole story is sucked out of a thumb. Started somewhat okay, but as pages turned, it seemed taht the author constantly pushed the randomiser button. FUCK

>>16331280
Seems you don't understand the purpose of magical realism.

>>16323133
why does she have a dick?

>>16323133
>bad Westworld fanart

>>16331757
That's just your imagination.

>>16331757
Yo never seen a girl, have you? They have this thing called a mound.

This is the best review for Abercrombie I ever read, and sums up everything he wrote nicely.

>>16331947
Abergumbie fags have no defense against this.

>>16331947
nooooo abercrombie bros we got too cocky nooo crying basedjack based

>>16332267
I mean, he’s right about it being grimdark shit. It’s been a while since I read it, but that’s mainly how the Northmen act, because they’re barbarians, not necessarily everyone else.

>>16331947
Kek. We just need one for Conan.

>>16331280
Brainlet

How come Fantasy is often way better than Sci Fi?

Give some coomer rsci-fi to please my endorphin addiction while turning me off with bad writing.

>>16323362
Severian has a weakness for women. It is shown throughout the books and he himself remarks as such. I don't remember whether there was any trauma involved. You could see it as a for of trauma to grow up as a torturer, surrounded males, with females primarily being the witches.

The being he saw will be explained in Urth of the New Sun, which you really should read and not stop at the fourth book.

>>16323345
Gor is the only thing that comes to mind, but its mostly just slave/master porn.

>>16325973
better than most shit regularly shilled here

>>16325087
I remember very few nice things happening in The Broke Empire books... Even the ending is not really that happy even though Jorg still saves the world.

>>16324998
>>16325014
>>16325094
>>16328066
Apparently this is what the rabbit looks like, only more stacked and thicc.... Why is everyone trying to turn you furry these days? I would absolutely mating press that rabbit...

>>16323345
If you want scifi romans you can try red rising trilogy .

Anything not adjusted for popularity can't be accurate for how good something is.

>>16333118
Japanese light novels.

Man, Ashes of the Sun is bumming me out. It's just poplit, but both major factions are so clearly evil, this world is just fucked.

>>16332774
>>16329012

>>16333417
Listen faggot. There are more than one person saying conan is shit. That was my first post about conan in this thread. Just fuck off with your conan shit.

>>16323090
Had to read this for a college class. Apparently its really popular.
>In this world there's no reason to submit to man's law or god's law.
>Masturbation is transgressive and profound!
>Oh but I know my whole premise is that the rules are illusions but rape, murder, and sex with underage persons are still fundamentally wrong and blasphemous btw
>No I don't have any reasons to support that, and yes my central premise is still that no rules are legitimate and "insanity" is freedom, but obviously I don't MEAN it. Or rather those things don't count
>Also no interesting or likeable characters

More recently I read and hated My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessah Moshfegh. Similar in that the main protag's a boring, self obsessed young woman with not much going on whose problems are magically solved by becoming even shittier and more self-obsessed. The latter was more interesting though imo.

>>16333432
>>16329012

>>16323345
Videssos cycle

>>16324455
They're masterworks, all. You can't go wrong.

>>16333585
>because something is lauded and put on a pedestal it's good

>>16333605
No, they're good because I liked them. That's what it IS for something to be good.

>>16333617
>i am the sole authority for the good bad dichotomy of taste

>>16333605
Or that anon read them all, enjoyed them, and highly recommends them.
Also
>not trusting Caxton
I hope you jape, friend.

>>16326428
grow up

>>16330246
Yes, its unironically my favorite book

Any /sffg/ set in the roman republic?

>>16333727
Yeah

Any transhumanist science fiction that features aliens? I was thinking about Accelerando and how the only part of that I found fun was when they find the Wunch and enter the derelict Matrioshka brain.

>>16333730
which

>>16333812
some

>>16329866
I just read all 7 back to back

The first two are short story collections and very good, especially if you've played the games

the novels are a pretty big drop in quality, they become much more generic and the story is worse and not focused on Geralt anymore. I would recommend them only if you really loved the games

either way they're quick reads so you lose nothing by at least reading The Last Wish

>>16325087
The first Farseer trilogy gets a unhappy ending

>>16329866
The first two are great, the others are pretty good but do vary in quality depending on where the story is at. If you like the games and have the ability to read you will probably like them.

>>16333639
Yes

how the fuck is it possible for a genre like fantasy to be a literal wasteland the last 15+ years? is it longer than that even? I cant even remember something truly good off the top of my head

every single thing I liked that I read within recent years was made or started before 2000, its unreal

>>16326491
nice b8

>>16334149
anon, quality is subjective. The fantasy industry is bigger than it's ever been, but the style has changed along with the politics influencing it, and you yourself have changed over the course of 15 years or else failed to adapt. As a result, older books are a source of comfort for you, and new ones seem weird and scary

>>16334347
but I wasn't alive when these older books were created. I never read or enjoyed them as a kid or teenager. I have no nostalgia for them and if anything read entirely modern books growing up, so the old ones are the ones that should've seemed "weird and scary".

I'm experiencing them for the first time as an adult, and side by side without bias they are objectively much better to me. It is clear to me that the authors put in more effort as far as the quality of their writing, and their influences are usually top tier writers outside of genre fiction, whereas nowadays the new fantasy writer's influences are the fantasy writers that came slightly before them (all the Sanderson minis for example)

I really feel like more than anything though, it's a publisher influence that wasn't present decades ago, forcibly pushing absolutely everything into a trilogy or more even when it doesn't fit or need to be. I feel like this cancerous practice is dragging the genre down. A lot of top old fantasy is series, but theyre usually the magnum opus of the author - who was only capable of making it because he wrote several standalone novels that let him experiment and grow and learn as a author before jumping into making a series which is an incredibly demanding and hard thing to do

>>16334347
>new ones seem weird and scary
If they were that'd be great. There's hardly anything new about them though, most of the works are retreads of tired stories and characters. There's constant attempts to "subvert" genre conventions but that just ends up being another way to shovel in generic grimdark where the characters all talk and act like they were living in modern day America. Compare all these new hard-ass grimdark fantasy works to something like Thomas Covenant or Elric which actually challenged and subverted the ideas brought forth by Tolkien.
When I pick a classic from 20+ years ago I often find fresh ideas and perspectives that I can't really find today, save some exceptions. I feel >>16334425's frustrations about the current state of the genre.

>>16334347
>The fantasy industry is bigger than it's ever been
This isn't remotely true. Fantasy is one of the lowest selling literary genres.

>>16334580
Do you have any stats for this?

>>16333710
>grow up
Yes anon liking free will is bad. Get that dick out of your subseevient mouth then talk to me about growing up you queer

>>16323345
Yeah john Milius king conan crown of iron scriot for the 3rd Conan movie. Empire of aquilonia in it is basically the Romans and Conan first fights for them and then later against them
I don't have the link to the script on me but it is online and if you can't find it browse /tv/s Conan threads and you should be able to get a link

I pooped my pants today

>>16334722
Yes; I just can't find them. It was a chart showing book sales of the various literary genres. Romance was number 1 by a huge margin and Sci-Fi was at the bottom (military sci-fi higher though). And Fantasy was higher than Sci-Fi, but not by much. If I could find the fucking chart I'd post it.

>>16334756
Just saw the stats, holy shit, Romance and Erotica dwarfs all the other genres. Who's reading all these trash novels?

>>16333523
I read this one when I was 10 years old, looking back that's about Coelho's level.

>>16334881
Statistically speaking: your mother.

>>16326471
>listening

>>16324998
huh?

>>16334881
It's probably taking in the smut self published books on Amazon. I read them, but skim over the smut. I read for the story.

>>16335264
You don't even read, much less listen to a book.

>>16334881
Women reading trashy erotica and simps reading trashy harem litrpg garbage.

>>16335943
>You don't even read
Neither do you.

I really liked the original Earthsea trilogy and decided to continue and read book 4, Tehanu. Oh boy what a mistake that was. This fantasy series about people in a simple low tech fantasy archipelago suddenly became about rape, sexual violence, gendered violence, and gender power dynamics.

Also, the MC of the first book and arguably the entire trilogy was made a mockery of, as one Goodreads review I saw said "as if Tolkien wrote a 4th LotR book about Gandalf, having lost his power, is teased by a cruel orc, and Gandalf can't do anything about it". And what little Gandalf does do is with the thrusting of farm equipment.

What was Le Guin thinking? Is there any point in continuing the series?

>>16325087
Abercrombie doesn’t write happy endings

>>16336348
>What was Le Guin thinking?
She drank the social justice coolaid

>Is there any point in continuing the series?
None whatsoever.

>>16323345
There was a book about war in hell that had Caeser fighting on one side with his legions

>>16323090
Mistborn, at least it was fun thoughm
I kept reading it cause it always felt like it was almost there, almost amazing, but it kept falling short and the ending sucked

>>16336348
Its not bad. Its just boring because Tenar decides to forgo magecraft to become a housewife, and then forgets all her social village connections when it comes to deal with a random hobo mage.
I like the idea.
The execution is kinda boring because nothing happens until you basically get some kind of low key dominance fetish tossed into the last 2-3 chapters.

>reread short little trilogy part of a greater universe
>series is close to a decade old
>last entry into this universe was 2014
>now have this empty pit of lost characters I grew fond of with no conclusion
feels bad man
i think the author simply wasn't as successful as he hoped and fizzled out

>>16323090
I read the firemane books because someone else was reading them and they are bad.

>>16323324
>NOOO MUH MENTAL HEALTHLERINO

Remember. Today was an inside job from the gov. Jet fuel can't melt steel beams.

>>16323324
I liked the wish fullfilment amazon fucking.

>>16334149
Because women and homosexuals took over the publishers.
Just go read chink webnovels and be happy again.

>>16336348
>What was Le Guin thinking?
She went full retard once she stopped aping Dunsany.
>Is there any point in continuing the series?
Absolutely not.

>>16336771
>Because women and homosexuals took over the publishers.
Yes
>Just go read chink webnovels and be happy again.
No

I've seen them discussed enough around here to know what they're about, I'm not getting memed by you faggot.

>>16333726
Cool, I'm gonna birate the eboog :DDD

>>16336869
>what they're about
The memes are only about one specific genre of chink novel and only a subset of those are retard no-thought power fantasies.
There's plenty of great ones that are western-inspired or have their original non-chinese fantasy settings.

>>16334149
English literature is dead, unironically. I only read the occasional English book now, most of my reading is in other languages where the culture hasn't gone to shit yet.

I'm struggling to finish Fall of Hyperion. I just don't give a fuck about Keats or Gladstone god damn it.

FRESH BREAD
>>16337044
>>16337044
>>16337044
>>16337044
>>16337044
>>16337044

>>16336469
Might be the publisher then. If a series isn't selling they won't be another book and it's next to impossible to switch publishers in the middle of a series.