/lit/ - Literature

First for Colleen McCullough

BRANDUMP SANDERSTINK

updated Charts megaupload link: https://mega.nz/folder/kj5hWI6J#0cyw0-ZdvZKOJW3fPI6RfQ/folder/wiJVkAYA

Gimme the weirdest SF book you've ever read

why are we getting deleted bros?

>>16681829
Holy shit we chewed through the other one that fast?

Is the OP making the threads then deleting them?

Just finished picrel. I now have only 2 more Culture books to go and I'll have read the whole series.
This one was really good. Not so mired in complexity and the political intrigue and Culture moralfagging was kept to a moderate level. I read Surface Detail before this and did not like it at all - it dragged on and on and the virtual hell simulations weren't enough to save it.
What are Banks best fiction books? I've read The Wasp Factory and The Bridge. Was thinking of grabbing The Algebraist next. Which one is your favorite and least favorite?
Best: Use of Weapons
Worst: Excession

>>16681829
It's dying because very few who post here read sci-fi
Most read fantasy and post about faggy series no one has ever heard of
Meanwhile if sci-fi is discussed it's the same 2 or 3 books
The fact that asimov failed to make that chart that got made is proof no one here reads sci fi
Maybe if you would read something besides faggy fantasy by literally who you would get more posts

>>16681893
Nah I made the last one as a joke and it got deleted independently

Checking if I'm banned by posting this right now, wish me luck lads

Anyone here read Patterns of Chaos or The Wizard of Anharitte? I thought both of those were pretty fun (without being overt comedies).

>>16681829
is there anything better than Wolfe?

>>16681937
I have read Patterns of Chaos and found it pretty delightful. Anyone read Chateau Cascade? More on the gritty side, but sort of reads like the YA fantasy version of a shonen series.

>>16681958
NO ONE WILL READ YOUR SHITTY BOOKS HOOOOMMMOOOO

I want Babel 4 so bad bros...

>>16681875
God Emperor for 'woah bro..'

Any sort of Greg Egan for 'I don't completely understand this shit, but dammit I like it!'

>>16681829
What's the consensus?

I've finished consider Consider Phlebas, like it more towards the end than the beginning. Except maybe the very end
The thing is i absolutely hate the culture and i want to see every single human and mind destroyed and wiped out from the face of the earth on a holy purge. Holy shit what a bunch of self righteous self serving asshole. Also the ending was a miserable experience it was, no in a bad way i mean, it was meant to feel miserable. But holy shit.
Based on that felling should I read the other books? Or do you have any recommendation based on my urge to commit genocide on self righteous Waring hedonists.

Why is modern fantasy so bad now compared to classic fantasy?

>>16682014
a couple points to make
1) Consider Phlebas is one of the less of The Culture books
2) The Culture books tend to revolve a lot around The Culture, so if you don't like em or aren't interested in learning em

Where do I go next?

>>16682026
Because the authors just read other fantasy, and now anime, so it's just a big uninspired cesspool with few aspiring to greater heights.

>>16682031
I liked the book it's a solid 6.8 /10 it dragged a little at the middle but otherwise it was decent.
And my hate for the culture is the same as my hate for the high fantasy elves. I don't dislike them as writing pieces and I find them interesting but holy shit do IO want them all to collectively be tortured int he lowest pits of hell for eternity.

>>16682031
What the hell is the culture?

Any good book about space pirate

>>16682071
You need to read the book\s to understand. Anymore than that would be a spoiler.

>>16682075
None that I've read so far. If you find them recommend them in this thread in the future.

>>16682071
>>16682084
I wouldn't really call it a spoiler. The Culture is a post-Singularity, galactic society ran by super smart AIs. Humans are incorporated into the society and for the most part are pretty much just fartin' around, given post scarcity economics.

>>16682096
Okay. Space pirate interesting. Would be more interesting to find book extrapolate from Gold Age of Piracy in Caribbean but in space setting. Unique time period in history only can be replicated in space in my thought

>>16681958
you know this is one of the worst places to shill your books right? i know i pirate everything i read and most anons do the same. And that is IF people bother to check it out.

>>16681909
>What are Banks best fiction books?
Until now nothing has beaten the forever war... I doubt anything will.

>>16682153
>Banks
I read that as best. Forget I said anything.

*ahem* fuck kellhus

>>16682212
t. Drusas Cuckamian

>>16681829
>GOR
OP this might be the first time I've seen Gor on this board. I've been here forever. Are you a fan or do you just like the artwork?

I've read the first 10 books or so. Pretty low brow but pretty comfy.

Haven't touched the series in ages but I actually met a girl with the 'K' slave symbol tattooed once. She was down but I didn't go for it.

>>16682212
> NO.

you guys did pick up the new edition of the wizard knight right?

>>16682245
*relentlessly cucks you*

*buggers you*

>>16682420
The musings on how the Giants, of all things, are capable of feeling love, but not receiving love
it really got to me
I thought they were these generic fantasy baddies, always chaotic evil (still are, but,,)
Then Wolfe drops a few melancholic lines like that, and turns everything that much more heartfelt


Amazing work on making the rival Squire brat such a believable asshole, then pulling a redemption arc, that felt actually earned

>>16682026
Because we haven't had time to filter out the bad stuff + the past always seems better than the present

Any tips on how to start writing other than "just write"? Just looking for resources and tips on how to get better, in addition toa ctually doing my writing reps

Not meaning to be commercially viable,

>>16682646
When will you aspiring writer faggots understand /lit/ always has at least one writing general, where you should ask this sort of questions and get better advice?
We're not your friends. Don't come here to ask basic questions or to bounce your retarded plots and "world building" ideas.
It gives the impression you've thought about writing a book for a total of 10 minutes and have a shitty impulse control. Post in this general after you've made some progress, but preferably, stay the fuck out.

For every 50 posts like yours, only 1 faggot posts a sample of his writing. There's no reason 1/4 of the posts in this general should be about writing advice that never gets anywhere.

>>16682764
... that's actually good advice. I had a bad image of the rest of /lit/ from what ice experienced, but if you say that's a good spot for someone interested in writing fantasy, I'll take a look

Thanks for the guidance anon!

>>16682764
/wg/ makes fun of sff books :(

>>16682646
>Any tips on how to start writing other than "just write"?
Are you writing every day? Enough to fill at least a couple pages? Then you're not ready for any other advice, your output isn't high enough to warrant it.

>>16682824
They make fun of you because you approach writing fantasy and SF as if it was entirely different from writing literary fiction or mystery novels or whatever. You probably haven't read that much, genre fiction or not. The real issue is you have never in your life read a fantasy or SF book critically, i.e., taking notes, understanding how and why it works, etc.
You come up with Excalibur and think everything should be around that, instead of King Arthur. That's never going to work. You start by coming up with what books you want to emulate, the trinkets, and your retarded maps and stupid shit like "how many orc races are there" instead of thinking of a good character and imagining what could make an interesting plot.

>>16682875
Fair enough

Recommend me western web novel.

>>16682896
>Raymond Chandler quote
>mentions Google
>Died in 1959

Now there was a man who was ahead of his time

I'm a hack /sffg/. This idea took four years to develop a plot, two more to turn into 75% of a first draft and I don't even have a good idea for a sequel lined up to show for it.

I deserve to be shot

>>16682428
A man of patrician taste, I see.

Come aboard our golden Ark sometime, I think you'll like it here. The gates of the Incû-Holoinas are always open for guests.

>>16681977
>>16682144
I doubt tits the author shilling the books. To me it looks like some anon wants to fuck with him and make people mad. I'm pretty sure the same thing happened with Birdboi.

>>16682949
First novel?

>>16683159
not exactly. I started trying to figure this concept out when I was in college, got nowhere for years, tried to write a short story in the setting and that ended up branching off into an entirely different story with similar characters and that was my first novel. This is my second. The sequel might be my third, though I have a number of other ideas lined up that might take priority

should i actually read this? im a bit hesitant about starting a giant series. is it a stand alone do i have to read all of them?

>>16683409
How new are you? Most anons here will tell you to go ahead, because Bakker is an old meme.
Definitely worth reading. The first book stands on its own and if you don't like it, just drop it. If you like it, you'll want to read the rest.
I've never read the second series though. Been meaning to but I'm afraid I won't remember much from the first one and I'm trying to stay away from long series as well.

>>16683409
The first three work fairly well as a standalone trilogy. I didn't finish the last couple of books, but I heard the story takes a turn after the first trilogy and the "final ending" is a big downer.

>>16682420
>$20 for a paperback
lolno

i can't get through the last wot book i know sunk loss falacy but its just sanderhack makes everything so boring to me i desperately want to pick up the other books i'm reading but i said to myself i'd have the series finished before the show comes out

>>16683030
You would not believe the autism of the author, he's the one who was having a metldown a few threads back spamming links to his server and berating the mods.

>>16683409
if you like it, it’s probably worth reading all 7 books desu. the first series is basically a set-up for the second series, which is better imo. bakker’s writing can be a bit tediously ornate and full of itself, but there are many moments of captivating brilliance and horror.

>>16681829
How good are the extended tolkein works? I like the look of any books illustrated by Alan Lee. Worth or no? Haven't read Tolkein in a long time but after reading some Sandershit I kind of want a pallet cleanser.

>>16683500
Did he post with a tripcode or are you just making shit up?

>>16683409
yeah it's great, best fantasy series ive read. You can stop or pause after the first 3 books because there's a 20 year timeskip, and come back whenever you want

The Pastel City was really enjoyable. I haven't seen it mentioned often when people discuss Vance and Dying Earth, so I'd recommend it for people looking into a lighter Wolfe or even Moorcock fags. The atmosphere was perfect, great prose, a bit of nonsense with the action, but it's alright. Good quality pulp. Like The Three Musketeers in the far future, except it's 120 pages long.
There's no world building for shit you'd hardly care about. For example,
nearing the end of the book, the party reaches some town on their way to some other place. A contemporary writer would describe everything in detail: The history of the place, it's geographical position, invent some mannerisms for the people, their clothing, shitty marketplaces, the guards, the outskirts, the temples or whatever. All this would probably be boring and uninventive. The writer would need to show off, and it would destroy the pacing. In this book, said town is described in a couple of paragraphs and 2 pages later, the party moves on.

I want to read Piranesi next and after that I'll probably continue with the second Viricomium novel. Or maybe that book about the plague in the 15th c., and angels or whatever (Between Two Fires or something).

Should I?

I loved Money but not much after that.

Thoughts?

>>16683887
Wrong thread, friend

>>16683409
imagine a netflix adaptation kek

>>16681875
Jeff VanderMeer. Borne especially.

>>16682420
Of course.

The epubs I can find of Stormbringer from the Elric Saga seem to have had issues scanning, since its full of words being bungled like Elric being written as Bine. I've tried grabbing the one on #books and b-ok. Does anyone have an epub that hasn't been mangled?

>>16684067
just buy the book you faggot

>>16682014
I had the same reaction to the Culture. It made the author disgusting to me and I dropped the series.

Is this worth pushing through to the end? Not even halfway in but it's really starting to drag.

>>16681829
picked up malazan, before i start this huge book can someone tell me what i am in for, seems like a lot of world building with the map and character profiles right at the start. someone said it was like nasuverse for some reason.

>>16684178
I didn't enjoy Long Sun as much as the other books, but its necessary setup for Short Sun, which is very good. So I recommend you sit through it.

Just wanted to drop in and say that Iain Banks' Against a Dark Background remains one of my favorite novels of all time and to urge you all to give it a read if you haven't already.

>Complains about threads dying
>Plenty of anons effortposting about various books trying to start discussion
>All of them get ignored

I shiggy diggy

>>16682295
Different anon, but they’ve been mentioned here a couple times when the thread was on a Conan kick. I read the first three but I’m taking a break from them now.

>>16684248
You're in for high fantasy written by an archaeologist and holy fuck but it shows. The first book is basically the gauntlet, if you can get through it without pulling your hair out from sprawling casts of characters, inexplicable magic, and half forgotten histories, it's definitely worth it to keep going. Most people burn out in the first book it seems.

>>16684271
I'll take your word for it .Thanks.

>>16683437
If I recall correctly, the sequels have recap chapters. They went on for more than an hour in the audiobook. Kinda funny, like maybe put a little less plot into your book? But, then again, I like reading Malazan.

>>16684248
>someone said it was like nasuverse
Huh, might give it a look then. Been putting it off for a while as it seemed out of my range of interests, but if this comparisson is apt it seems like somethng I'd like

Also, any other recommendations that fit that nasuverse feel?

>>16684807
Not him, but short sun rivals new sun in quality, it's very, very good. I also found long sun to be a bit of a slog, but I understood why it was so long by the end of the book.

Been reading Ship of Fools, decent read if you're into Event Horizon / Dead Space / Eisenhorn stuff. Worse writer than Abnett or Watts though.

>>16684248
get through the first 200 pages or so till they reach darujishitan, and for GODS SAKE read the poems at the start of hte chapters. You need to actively, not passively read to understand wtf is going on

>>16684900
might be bias but prince of nothing?

>>16681862
Tell me the truth. Why do you shit on Brandon Sanderson? He seems like such a nice guy.

>>16685067
Sanderson’s writing is terrible. his prose reads like fanfiction. i liked the premise to SLA, tried but i couldn’t, the prose was just too crushingly insulting to my intelligence.

by the way, are there any scifi/fantasy writers besides Tolkien and Herbert who actually write decently literary prose? almost everything i come across is schlock. i like Bakker but let’s be honest, his strengths are worldbuilding, philosophizing and baroque extremity, not prose and character development.

>>16685086
Bujold.

>>16685086
I'm usually too busy having fun to notice how "literary" something is.

>>16685086
>the prose was just too crushingly insulting to my intelligence
>reading Sanderson for intelligence
OK Kid

>>16684939
I am genuinely scared of reading this book after reading Dune. Don't get me wrong, I like having read Dune, but the reading experiece itself almost made me quit reading as a whole.

And Prince of Nothing seems to have many of the same aspects I despised in Dune (Mainly the pages upon pages of Philosophical pretentious bullsit)

>>16685127
The philosophy is more spread out in PON, mianly in the chapter poem/introductions, I would really recoommend it I love FSN and Bakker

NINE IN MY HEAD

>>16685086
Bakker's prose is the best I''ve encountered in scifi or fantasty, close to lovecraft

>>16685136
> The philosophy is more spread out in PON, mainly in the chapter poem/introductions
Huh, that seems better. Something to set the mood rather than interrupting the flow of the story.

I'll bump it up my TBR. In my current rate I'll probably get to it by march 2023

>>16685171
TBR = Timberwolf

>>16684178
The first 100 pages of Calde are pretty boring, but the rest is great. As the other anons said, Short Sun is up there among Wolfe's best

>>16685115
And that’s the problem with sff writers and fans as a whole.

>>16685142
He’s good at describing detail, battles, and muh atrocities, but overall his prose reads like straight-up intellectual masturbation. You can practically smell his sticky fingers
> I’m gonna PROOOOOOSE
also
>Lovecraft
pleb filtered.

>>16685264
Why are you in the genre literature thread if you hate it?

>>16685339
i don’t hate it, i love it, i just have high standards and want the genre to be better. too often it falls into the pit of trash.

>>16685347
take the magical realism pill

>>16684925
I read it and thought it was just OK. I read it around the same time as Blindsight which I look back on far more favorably

>>16685347
Write, anon. Be the change you wish to see.

>>16685367
Got any recs?

>>16684903
>>16685206
Alright thanks. Guess I'll push through for short sun then.

>>16685121
>basic reading comprehension
>you
Pick one and only one.
You don't need to read something "for" intelligence, whatever the fuck a brainlet like you thinks that means, or even be particularly smart for someone to still talk down to you in a manner insulting to basic intelligence.

>>16685389
Thanks anon. I’m trying. Last time I posted in one of the writing threads, I got reamed badly, and became demoralized. Back to the drawing board, I guess.

>>16685482
Oh wow, so you're WORSE than Sanderson? Oof, yikes.

Are there any fantasy novels as good as this?

>>16683763
You don't need a tripcode to recognize him. Find the link to his server in the archives and then ask him yourself. It was only a few threads back, not very hard to find.

>>16681924

based.

You read Stapledon?

>>16685482
Everyone’s gotta start somewhere. Better to get reamed and learn than to write 100k words of garbage and then just stick to rping on f-list the rest of your life like me.

>>16681829
Opinions?

>>16685817
Very cozy.

>>16685658
is it really good? the synopsis always threw me off.

>>16681924
>complains same 2-3 scifi books get discussed
>complains Asimov isn’t mentioned
oh wow yeah Asimov totally different and out there no one ever talks about him

>>16685817
I dunno if it was the translation but it read kind of amatuerishly for me, but still good.

>>16685861
I love it, but I'm a huge Wolfe fan in general.

>>16685663
So you admit you have no evidence and are making things up

>>16682420
>physical books
lol!

>>16685861
It's 100 times better than it sound, execution is everything

It's not like it's a deconstruction, subversion or anything like that, you actually get what it says on the cover
but it's very clever, and should engage anyone on a genuine emotional level
Ehhh, maybe don't read it if you are a feminist? Or got a hate-boner for Catholicism

>>16681924
That chart was a disgrace because the dude who made it had no idea how to do it. Foundation didn't make it, same as Hyperion, and the guy never bothered to correct or improve the selection.

>>16686769
Several people suggested several better methods, but the retard insisted in doing In-thread voting and a stupid nominations based system.

>>16686707
>don't read it if you are a feminist
I'm not trying to bring in culture-war BS here. Not like Wolfe is a chauvinist.

But if you are unfamiliar with Wolfe, I can understand how women could be put-off by his books
Wolfe is a man, and he writes books for men. I don't believe this to be a bold claim.
His books are heavy in value issues, a lot it seems to be things that comes from the authors real experiences, conflicts he's actually had with himself and others
The books are intimate, you get to connect. But, the author IS a man, and the issues dealt with are things that wouldn't resonate easily in women.
They can be very romantic at times, (feels very genuine). But again, an entirely male perspective.


I read a review once. The reviewed figured that since BotS featured a bimbo getting raped by the MC
the book is anti-women, and our more enlightened modern society should never read it
Stuff like that, is negative IQ. For so many reasons. #1, it was not portrayed as a good thing, even the MC admitted to it being BAD, he's not a good guy here

So while I disagree strongly about anything Wolfe being anti-women,
I would agree that the book are not necessity meant to be read by women (there is a world of difference)

What novel?

Are there any fantasy novels that use simplistic lines to tell a story? No 10 page expositions, but is short & sweet instead of virgin-adjacent?

>>16682420
For fucks sake, I just bought an older one the other week with a faggy neil gayman quote on the front.

>>16686874
>neil gayman
My 'Peace' got Gayman on it
Why'dd they stick him on every Wolfe book?

>>16686874
>faggy neil gayman quote
redundant

>>16686872
To rephrase this question, what's your favorite minimalist fantasy novel?

>>16686894
Why wouldn't they? Le Guin and Gaiman are the 2 most well known genre writers that liked and wrote good things about Wolfe.
Wolfe even collaborated in some of Gaiman's anthologies (and vice versa). No matter his faggotry, Gaiman's "How to read Gene Wolfe" is unironically great.

any fantasy with heavy oriental characters & themes? for example a spiritual monk character

>>16686997
Xianxia

>>16686997
Read cradle or thousand li.

>liked damnation alley
>pick up lord of light because it's by the same guy expecting a similar experience
Is this what the kids call a "bruh moment"?

>>16686997

As adults, are there any YA fantasy novels that you guys enjoy?

>>16687043
Cradle
Long sword chronicles
Spellslinger series

>>16687043
Just read EarthSea. 5/5, recommend. Got sea journeys and stolid protag

>>16687043
Jinx
Prydain

>>16686997
Tales of the Otori

>>16687043
Thief of Eddis, particularly the first three

>>16687043
the ranger's apprentice

>>16687043
The first few of the Spook's Apprentice. The first has some top tier witch-goes-in-pit creepy shit

>>16685086
>his writing is terrible because I hate his prose
No, you *think* his writing is terrible because you hate his prose. Which is both one aspect of a well-written book, and also just, like, your opinion man.

reposting my question for more opinions

as somebody who is relatively new to sci-fi/fantasy, how often does political or philosophical discourse play a part in them? even if its only implicit or subconscious? compared to any other fictional genre

>>16687043
Disciples of the Horned One and its sequels by James E. Wisher. Its a coming of age fantasy story pretty much bit its entertainingly written and I think it becomes progressively more mature over time but at its core is very YA.

>>16687342
Why don't you start reading and find out by yourself?

>>16687342
it's hard to answer your question. there are examples of books/series focused on those aspects and there's also some that are light and more action packed. are you looking for something specific?

>>16687396
dont feel like it
>>16687408
no, I just dont want to read something that is mindless dribble, or something that is heavy handed "capitalism bad" shit. something tastefully in between would be cool, but seems tough to find and execute

>>16687342
Very often. It's an autismo genre and writers are going to grind their axe. The older writers were more libertarian contra conservative, the newer ones are more sjw.

>>16687412
that ISN"T mindless dribble, dumb brain

>>16687418
>he older writers were more libertarian contra conservative
I'd lean towards this, I imagine it's probably more subtle than the sjw writers as well

>>16686212
You believe only a tripcode is evidence. You are retarded.

>>16681829
is this series good
how smutty is it

>>16687481
Yes unless it is a tripcode that he has verified elsewhere it isn't proof of anything. Anyone can post on 4chan. You are either really dumb or purposefully lying

hey frens, im in need of a standalone sff book with interesting ideas, just something easy going to keep my mind busy.
I enjoyed Engine summer if thats of any help

>>16687043
Garth Nix's Abhorsen trilogy still holds up quite well.
The latter books were a bit redundant.

>>16687412
>no, I just want other people to furnish my opinions for me instead of exercising critical thought and mental effort
K

>>16687574
>K
you type like a faggot

>>16687579
>implying you're worth more keystrokes
K

>>16687621
you just typed more than a keystroke in your greentext dumbass
you would have served your point more effectively by just writing "K" again and then I'd look like the dumbass for continuing to reply but of course you have to be retarded about it

abysmal covers for the re-release

Sarah J Fatass

>>16687769
anon really?

>>16687715
K

>>16687809
>taking your enemies advice
cucked

>>16687824
>not learning from your failures
K

>>16687497
Ok dude, I've talked to the guy, as have many others, we know he posts here, but believe what you want.

>>16687572
I hold all fantasy necromancy to the standard that Nix established with all that cool bell stuff.

>>16687485
Google gor, it has an entire BDSM subculture associated with it. It's mostly M/s stuff with a pretty heavy focus on maledom/femslave.

>>16687559
I'm reading Crowley's new book Ka and it's pretty good. Sewer, Gas and Electric is really good too

>>16687852
OK liar

>>16687923
thanks, ill give them a read
sewer gas and electric sounds SJWy tho?

>>16687951
Alright this is my last message to you. This is the authors website:
https://rosecrypto.com/
> Buy my new book "Chateau Cascade"
You can literally ask him yourself if he's shilled in these threads. You can join his server to ask. But you're right, maybe it is a conspiracy, and the website is fake. All to trick you.

>>16682042
you liked it? the cover looks interesting.

>>16687888
so its probably not worth reading
saw a lot of reviews claiming misogyny and how it celebrates female slavery and thought it could be pretty good

>>16688291
it's BDSM sci-fi ish fantasy pulp, the BDSM bits being very oldschool/boomerish -- it is what it is. Not a lot of good BDSM fiction out there, and I guess this series has like thirty books in it. influential a few decades ago. now, it's a bit of a relic - reminds me of the story of O in a lot of ways like that. worth it, up to you, I guess.

(If you're looking for more instructional stuff on M/s dynamics, just go to the society of janus' website, they have a pretty good recommended reading list that's modern non-fiction)

>>16688355
so its only good for wank fantasies, the story is actually just filler for the bdsm

>>16688381
Seems like you already made up your mind to hate it so yeah, probably skip it.

>>16688401
I was asking, not making a statement

>>16688381
It's pulp fantasy in the style of conan-ish, don't know what else to tell you. They certainly have a story, they're not porn books.

>>16688205
idgi, he has a website therefore he's posted in these threads? Doesn't make sense dude. Are you off your medication or something

>>16688507
Ugh, why do I keep responding. He has social media, which is where I've talked to him, is where he's said that he's a channer. The only reason anyone talks about this literal who is because he joined the sffg server and shilled his books.

>>16689035
So you're saying the guy said he uses 4chan, and this somehow means that means he's posting in this particular thread right now? Bro what

>>>/v/530428656

Anyone read Zothique? What did you think of it?

>>16685861
Haven't read it but ol Gene never let me down.

>>16689084
Are you the guy in the question? You seem quite desperate to defend him and his shilling. Either that, or you're just a newfag.

>>16687043
The Last Unicorn

>>16689702
>everyone in the thread is some guy I can't stop thinking about
lol

>>16689702
Can you stop shitting up the thread with this schizophrenic nonsense please

>>16689805
Well, can YOU stop shitting up the thread with the schizo accusations nonsense please

When I was a kid I read a book about a person living in an artificial semisphere, something like The Truman Show, but there was a whole city there. I don't really remember more details. I read it in Polish, so it could be a Polish author, but not necessarily

>>16689876
...so does anybody maybe recognize this? I don't rememeber who the main hero was, but I think he was the infiltrator from the outside? And I think that it ended with breaking the facade

>>16689876
Sorry, I meant that the whole city (or maybe a family, a tribe) was living in the semisphere, not just one person

>>16687824
>getting triggered by the letter 'k'

Are there any megas or torrents of late 90s early 2000s fantasy books? Id rather not hunt down authors individually because I feel id miss some. It was such a good time in terms of quality what was produced.

>>16681909
>What are Banks best fiction books?
imo stick to his scifi, most of his fictions books is him reee-ing because he's a Scottish commie and English conservatives exist, every book you can tell who the villain is because they're rich. ive seen people recommend crow road as one of his best but for me it never really went anywhere and once it turns into a murder mystery for the last 1/4 its obvious who did it(i.e the only one who isnt working class).
Canal Dreams is pretty good, Wasp Factory dangerously redpilled, Bridge was nice. Walking on Glass meh, Complicity only read if you think people who think differently politically should be murdered(although its also comedic in that a gay kid rapes his friend then gets raped by a hiker and later becomes a serial killer)
i really like all his culture series,
Best: Use of Weapons
worst: Look to Windward maybe?

>>16682014
read the rest of the series just keep in mind how you feel about The Culture, it always reminds me of that episode in Deep Space 9 where the yellow shirt defects to the Maquis saying how insidious the Federation is. they're honestly very good scifi, even if they are filthy commies

>>16687043
branderson of course, robert jordan, bakker and feist are my top 4 yauthors

>>16682098
>Humans are incorporated into the society
fyi Human is the term used for all humanoids i.e 'start trek aliens' there aren't any Earth humans in the Culture, Consider Phlebas takes place iirc ~1100ad, there's a short story about the Culture spying on Earth in the 1980's and debating if in the future they should be allowed to join

>>16684248
great series but expect things to be explained to you 2 books after its happened

>>16687043
Belgariad & Malloreon if it counts as YA, very comfy fantasy

>>16690751
I read Belgariad a while ago, and I had to drop it partway through the third book because it was so fucking boring, felt like it was trying to check all the fantasy tropes. I'd probably enjoy it more if it was the my first fantasy read, but alas.

Sean Connery died. Rest in peace sweet Zardoz prince.

A gay friend gifted me this, citing the gayness as a plus for the premise.

As someone who is stubborn in only reading fantasy classics and historical epics I want judge it fairly, and not get distracted by my modern cynicism at the world.

I find it very hard. In predictable contemporary fashion, the author's idea of a "Strong" female protagonist is being an asshole to everyone and trying way too hard to be quirky and acerbic.

Has anyone read this? I want to know if I'm being biased because of the red flags at the beginning (even the one-liner review on the cover was something to the effect of "It has lesbians, yass queen.")

>>16690909
The penis truly is evil.

>>16691061
the cover makes it sound absolutely awful. you should definitely read it

>>16691061
I wish I had friends to talk to about books. That should be reason alone to read it anon. Unless you're not that close.

>>16691079
>>16691068
I guess you're right, fortunately it's not very long.
I'll come back with a review of sorts if I think it's worth your time.

Why is all tolkien art anime? When trying to look up artists interpretations of chracters 90% of the results are like this.

>>16691061
I kinda liked it

>>16691061
>lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space
i refuse to believe this isn't a machine learning generated story

>>16691192
blame all the "how to draw anime" books that started in the 00's

>>16691192
That's not anime at all though?

I'm reading dune and Paul is about to get laid with that arab girl that caught him. Why is this so cliche?

>>16691228
I figure it's reductive in a way to make it "pop" for mainstream audiences.

Like finding LoTR with a blurb that goes "Little people are helped by an Elf, a Dwarf and an Angel, so they can throw a magic ring in a volcano before the world ends."

>>16691254
Dune is from the sixties so it wasn't that much of a cliche in the context of fantasy specifically.

The historical answer is that women swoon over strong and smart men, and men like self-sufficient women that are willing to surrender their independence to be with them, especially when They both hallucinate that it's literally their destiny to fuck.

>>16691245

>>16691264
>They both hallucinate that it's literally their destiny to fuck.
Paul was literally swooning when he saw her the first time.
I can tell she is his future concubine

>>16690476
>>>/t/805598

>>16691264
>hallucinate
it is though, big spoilers for the series Leto II sends his consciousnesses backwards through time through the sand worms as he dies, Paul and Chani hallucinate while on the water of life, made from killing sandworms(i.e Leto II)

how better than the film adaption is the dune book series? I honestly hated the movie

>>16691353
Then you'll hate the book more

>>16686980
Nah his reading Wolfe is trendy shit that says nothing while pretending to say something. God Gaiman is smarmy. Ugh. Wolfe deserves better fans.

>>16685086
>his prose reads like fanfiction
This means absolutely nothing.

>>16691300
I love you

>>16691575
>AWESOMENESS

>>16687008
>cradle
For so long I avoided cradle because I thought it is somed dry communist chinese story like some hidden dragon stuff, just how wrong I was, literally one of the best action/fantasy novels written in the last 20 years, pure adventure, pure action, no sjw nonsense. Can't wait for book 9

>>16691575
He's talking about prose, of course he doesn't have any substantial criticism.

>>16691658
>narrative voice of a child sounds like a child
The fact you don't even understand something as basic as narrative voice makes your ridiculous fixation on prose even more an obvious attempt at seeming like a serious aesthete when you're really just a midwit with pretensions of credibility.

>>16691414
>Nah his reading Wolfe is trendy shit that says nothing while pretending to say something
so exactly like your post then

>>16691353
Dune is weird. It's equal parts autistic sci-fi world building and psychedelic spirit quest.

>>16692023
Why do they train autists to act like calculators instead of using computers?

I know this is cliche, but how do people justify this blatantly ripping of Fellowship of the Ring
>heros are innocent nobodies from small village
>hooded figures are servants of the dark one
>mindless hordes of evil non human soldiers
>Ravens act as spies
>Led by a wizard and ranger
Probably other stuff I'm forgetting. If I was the publisher I would have laughed at Robert Jordan

>>16692027
ai bad, threat to humanity.

>>16692044
No its not

>>16692040
>If I was the publisher I would have laughed at Robert Jordan
funny because the only reason its a rip off is because his publisher would only publish lotr rip offs. it becomes its own thing by book 2.
>heros are innocent nobodies from small village
hero's journey, you'd be surprised how common it is, partially as it represents moving from the safety of childhood and into the uncertainty and dangers of adolescence

>>16692053
is in dune world and a lot of sci-fi

>>16681868
Dude, there are no legit charts in that mega. Where did the old one go?

>>16692053
>>16692070
>>16692027
Well executed AI will resolve 99% of the world's material problems, leaving only the issue of political gain and deciding who operates the machines.

This can only either become space politics or dystopian "AI realized humans suck" stories, which are not bad, but are probably not what Herbert wanted to write.

>>16692105
you'd like The Culture series

>>16692121
What?

>>16692134
sci-fi series where a galactic empire is ran by AIs & interferes with other less developed civilizations 'for their own good'

>>16692144
Would you give it 4/5 at least?

>>16692149
yes, 10 books all very different from each other.

>>16682295
>>16684544
Another anon here too. I read the first 7 books a while ago.

The seventh Captive of Gor was probably the worst because of how repetitive it was and it didn't really work for me with the female protagonist. Might pick them up again though, they're fun books. Nomads and Assassin were my favorites.

>>16692154
It was written over 30 years ago, did the author really understand what AI are like?
We know differently today.

>>16689427

>>16692175
dude its science fiction. the ai's are mostly sentient space ships/space stations
>We know differently today.
rip Tay

>>16692181
CYBER BOOBA HUMNAHUMNAHUMNA AWOOOOOOGA

>>16689427
>>16692181
Wasn't western chad supposed to be the one who invented cyberpunk? why is that supposed to be true cyberpunk?

>>16692183
They better be like my AI gf.

>>16692197
in one of the books an elephant alien gets his gf revived digitally after she gets sent to vr hell and becomes a demon

What percent of fantasy novels are just terminology? I'm reading a fantasy novel right now and I swear to god 90% of the page is just referencing names&places, 10% actual content.

what is Ivanhoe? I just bought it from the classics section. Worth reading?

>>16692149
Start with Player of Games because Consider Phlebas SUCKS

>>16692251
This general is slowly turning into a fucking nursery.

>>16692245
happens in scifi too >>16682896
or worse its wheel of time and 90% is skirt smoothing and braid tugging

>>16692253
>Consider Phlebas SUCKS
disagree, it sets up the fact that The Culture is the antagonist. iirc it was also written to be a possible movie script. not the best but its worth reading

>>16692269
Definitely reads like some weird B movie.

Are there any new fantasy novels that you all think will blow up in the mainstream a decade or 2 from now like ASOIAF and The Witcher?

>>16692369
wheel of time is getting a show and from the surface level it seems very yaaasss qweeeen. expect that to blow up unless hopefully the show really shits the bed and the normies stay away from it

>>16692369
And it will actually be good

>>16692386

>>16686997
Gatherer of clouds

>>16682420
No faux highbrow covers on my Wolfe, thx

QUICK is it good/worth buying!??

>>16693019
If you just want a casual fun read, it's like watching a cartoon show for children.

I just read The Night Land. I'm planning on Ring World, Hyperion, and Dune as well. I'm getting into older science fiction. Any other recommendations for big adventure style novels with really huge scale?

>>16693019
female centered ya enders game without the bite. also this >>16693024

>>16693019
That hand tho

>>16693033
hate to keep recommending it but The Culture series. the enders game squeals, fire upon the deep, rendezvous with rama

>>16693024
>>16693041
>>16693066
I end up not getting it, such a shame too. The way of kings was so good too, still need to finish oathbringer

>>16693128
its no where near as good as way of kings. check out warbreaker also by sanderson, its in his shared universe with WoK. skyward isnt terrible but its clearly written for young girls, not even teenagers

DUMPDUMB SOIBOYSOCK

Why does /lit/ hates ASoIaF?

It’s legitimately the best fantasy ever written after LoTR. Hating it is a popular meme at this point.

Best characters written in the genre. The characters are all full of nuance. The world makes sense.

GRRM is actually talented. He can describe foods in pages and you would still want more.

And he doesn’t embrace social norms. Literally made incest cool in 2000s singlehandedly. Incest is just one of the many. He’s perverted old man.

My only concern is he may have become a little pozzed. All of his minions are leftists and over progressive. I pray to the seven god I’m wrong.

>>16693434
Nothing screams hack more than medieval fantasy Europe. It's a stupid, clichéd, unimaginative setting with generic characters. The only compelling part so far has been Jaime's transformation. This fat fuck took Maurice Druon and the War of the Roses, added dragons and incest, and normies gulped it up like the cum guzzling freaks they are. They can do whatever they want, just don't pretend it's good or anything.

how do you guys actually read all this? how do you guys even make it through 300+ page books that you dont enjoy? I wish I could be the kind of guy who could run through a book over a weekend

>>16693540
Read multiple books at once

>>16693505
>Europe is one setting with one culture and one type of story to tell
I bet you think every single fantasy setting has dwarves and elves, you obstinate cunt.

>>16693579
??? How do you garner that. Elves and dwarves are lazy too. If you actually have a decent story, there's no reason not to put more effort into the setting instead of just saying lmao *not* Europe
You better be Strayan calling me cunt, buddy

>>16693505
>>16693505

Normies didn’t even know what ASoIaF is before HBO show. Hell they still don’t even know Tyrion was never a good guy or Starks aren’t these super honorable guys, only Ned.

So please stop with this normies catchphrase. With your logic LoTR is more for normies.

Name me one novel with more alive characters. You can’t. GRRM work is unmatched in todays state of Fantasy.

The Lore is so rich on its own it can rival most fantasy books by itself.

>>16693605
>Name me one novel with more alive characters. You can’t. GRRM work is unmatched in todays state of Fantasy.
>The Lore is so rich on its own it can rival most fantasy books by itself.
I was almost biting, almost agreeing but then you just threw the whole bucket of bait into the water.

>>16685861
It fucking sucks don’t listen to these other faggs, no I didn’t get filtered I slogged the whole thing. Fucking sucks

>>16693605
Normies don't know what any book is before the movie/tv show comes out, your statement is pointless. LotR set many fantasy tropes, and is well done besides. Fantasy isn't for "alive" characters, why do you think this? It's for speculative and, whoa, get this, fantastical settings and norms. Setting fantasy in lmao *not* Europe is just garbage lazy storytelling.
There are more alive characters in 200 page standalones by Vance, Burroughs, even Stephen King, than in this fat fuck's doorstoppers.
The lore is garbage. Hurrdurr Andals invaded then nothing happened for 5000 years...the Wall stands for a thousand years...Iron Bank has money from some source despite being out of the way for any travelers between Essos and the wealthy parts of Westeros. The lore in Skyrim, let alone Morrowind, is richer.
Listen man, I don't hate ASoIaF. I enjoyed the books. But calling it great fantasy, let alone the best since LotR, is an impossible stretch. Just accept it.

>>16693617

Don’t be so paranoid anon, I wasn’t trolling. Maybe I worded things in a hyperbolic manner but I actually believe what I said.

>>16693631

Do you care to explain a little bit more?
I believe you handpicked some stuff from the lore. The other ASoIaF books gets into more details about the nitty gritty of the stuff. Also in general less is more.
You don’t want pages upon pages detailing how the Bank system works. Do you?

LoTR is the goat, no objection here but those authors that you mentioned don’t have such a deep and complex (5/7 books) series on their resume. GRRM makes this characters alive not in one book but in several millions word books. The quality is consistent throughout the series. People don’t like the latter ones because of new characters plot and new locations.

>>16693664
>Also in general less is more. You don’t want pages upon pages detailing how the Bank system works. Do you?

>"What was Aragorn's tax policy?"

>>16693682
>>"What was Aragorn's tax policy?"
thats just grrm saying we see rulers gain their throne's but we rarely see them rule. unlike his King Robert who in his youth was the conquering hero but becomes an alcoholic whore monger

>>16693041
>female centered ya enders game
So, you didn't read it.

>>16693726
i did and its sequel, im talking about their 'battle school' and how shes a misfit just like ender

>>16693170
Why do people hate Oathbringer? I found it more enjoyable than WoK (which is still a phenomenal book).

>>16693730
Like calling The Hobbit a gritty Snow White reboot because it features several dwarves.

>>16693735
i was talking about skyward not being as good as WoK

>>16693748
oh please why are you ignoring that fact its a book about teenagers in a battle school, training to fight against the enemies of humans and the main character is ostracized

>>16693434
Martin took too long to write it, nobody can be expected to care for something the guy who makes it clearly doesn't care about either.

Its ben 9 years since Dance. An entire show came and went with 8 seasons and that fat fuck couldn't bother to publish 1 book.

>>16693758
Because if I ignore that it's a young adult novel about a scrappy outcast training to fight their oppressors, your entire analogy falls apart. Which makes it a shit analogy. Hell, the battle schools aren't even terribly analogous since Ender and co. were being unwittingly groomed for command and Skyward is just training fighter pilots by having them simulate flying fighter jets.

>>16693434
People loved it before it became mainstream. It's cool to hate now, so everyone here hates it. It's that simple to these monkey brains.

Are humans simply wired for the hero's journey or does it work because audiences like simplicity and its a setup they are comfortable with due to familiarity through overexposure?

>>16693841
>Because if I ignore that it's a young adult novel about a scrappy outcast training to fight their oppressors, your entire analogy falls apart.
well shit nigger if you ignore the entire premise of the books Beowulf is just Clifford the big red dog. but you're right the twist endings are completely different

>>16693876
see >>16692062

>>16693876
and like horoscopes its just vague enough that almost everything can fit

>>16693876
Sorry sweaty but that outdated thing as been replaced by Dan Harmon's(creator of the best cartoon of all time Rick and Morty) Story Circle in all decent writing communities. Embrace it

>>16693901
its the same fucking thing

>>16693916
Not really, it's not restricted by the mandatory inclusion of outworn cliches (such as mentor figures) and steers clear from esoteric language.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hxnulkE3Dc&ab_channel=TylerMowery

>>16693849
No its just what happens when you release 2 books on a 21 year period. Martin doesn't care, so his fans don't. It really is that simple. If he released Winds tomorrow and confirmed he was releasing Dream next year, people would get excited again. But he won't, and you and I both know he won't. So no one cares.

>>16693940
>mandatory inclusion
not every step is mandatory
>outworn cliches (such as mentor figures)
every step in both is a cliche
>steers clear from esoteric language
so its for <80iq dummies that cant use google

Just finished The Vor Game today. Man, it was so good. Good excitement, neat mindgames, and good tidbits of humor in between it all.
I will say some of the reveals the main character makes are unfortunately not things the reader could possibly guess beforehand, so it comes more as a "huh" sometimes rather than a "wow, he's so smart!" but it's not a major issue.

I'm blanking on the name of this sci fi book I read years ago. It's driving me nuts.

Pic related is the cover, as best as I can remember it. There's a porthole with an alien eye, and maybe the silhouette of a human astronaut at the bottom. The title was in big letters, and although it wasn't "xenocide" I think it did have something to do with "genocide" or some similar word.

The plot had humans, who were allied with friendly four legged aliens. Then there was another race of aliens that wasn't friendly, they had long hair with "memory fruits" growing underneath the hair that they could eat to see memories. There was a planet close to theirs that had been destroyed by war, I think part of the plot was about what happened to this destroyed neighbor planet.

For what it's worth, I think the book was in the young adult sci fi section of my library, although I'm not sure it was actually a YA book.

>>16694019
Oh shit, I found it lol.

"The Xenocide Mission"

Lieutenant Joel Gilmore is part of a space observation team who find themselves attacked by the very aliens they are watching. It becomes a race against time for their fellow soldiers to rescue them, but in doing so, they unlock the shocking secrets of the solar system.

Wow, big nostalgia rush

I wish there was some way to effectively filter Amazon recommendations. All it does is spam me with the same handful of crap constantly instead of anything I'd actually be interested in reading. There's literally thousands of titles listed on Amazon yet I only ever get the same 50 or so popping up on my feed.

>>16694961
Amazon recs are for normies, I don't know why you'd ever use them.

>>16694967
How the fuck else are you meant to find new authors and series?

>>16694969
Through the thousands of ways that aren't Amazon? You're literally posting in such a place right now.

>>16694979
>You're literally posting in such a place right now.
These generals never talk about anything remotely new. I try to make posts about interesting new books I stumble over and nobody is interested, and asking for recommendations just gets people to recommend ancient shit that everyone has already read. This is basically just a Dune/BotNS general that occasionally goes on Sanderson tangents.

>>16694985
I disagree, there's a variety of books mentioned all the time if you pay attention properly. If you narrow down what kind of rec you want you also tend to get good replies. Once you find things you like you can also just look up reviews on goodreads, find someone who you agree with and look at what else they like. Or read the authors other works, read their influences and so on. It's a never-ending spiral.

>>16695007
>there's a variety of books mentioned all the time if you pay attention properly
Yes, there's a variety of books mentioned here, and they're mentioned all the time. Always the same books, over and over and over and over.

>>16695014
You see what you want to see.

>>16694985
Eh, I get most of my fantasy/SF books recs from this general, and I think they are sufficiently varied. Problem is there's little discussion so it's hard to get interested. I absolutely despise litrpg, self published trash and wuxia so I hope you're not referring to that as "interesting new books".
People come here asking for where to start kind of shit (tourists) or with stupid requests (what do I watch if I liked SAO and Berserk), so it's obvious some classic stuff will be mentioned more often.
I remember the stats from the goodreads bro and most of the books I've read were rated by less than 20 people. It would be silly to think they all come back or have anything to say about them. In contrast, Dune, WoT, Witcher, BotNS have been read by a lot more people.

>>16695087
I think people who write LitRPGs or chinkshit should be set on fire. Self Published is a crapshoot but I've been reading a lot of it purely because traditional publishers seem to be hell bent on driving themselves out of business, and despite all the shit occasionally you find something good in it all. But then I have Kindle Unlimited purely so I can check them out without having to actually purchase them.

>>16694985
>These generals never talk about anything remotely new.
I made a thread about a book literally released earlier this month just last thread and it got several replies. Most of the threads are just people jerking off their favorite author over and over but people do read new stuff.

>>16695087
The good reads group isn't representative of these threads. We get over 100 unique IPs sometimes, but most people who post in these threads don't use good reads or don't want to bother with the snobby community there.