/lit/ - Literature

>>17038393
first for Cosmerekino

More milfs, please.

Third for the Consult did nothing wrong, and, all things considered, are the best and only choice for the World's salvation.

>>17038415
this game has amazing art. is the guys other game any good?

Anyone who reads Wheel of Time in the current year, or worse yet, recommends that others read it deserves to be put over a knee and spanked HARD

>>17038518

space cats. discuss.

>>17038393
I'm glad someone opted for a new thread topic, I was hoping someone would do that instead of just cunt-pasting the one I made.
And the battle of Thaylen Field is the dopest shit, don't even (You) me.

Saw this picture in a other thread.

Are there any fantasy books that match the aesthetic of picture related?

>>17038623
never read any Cherryh. i heard she's good, where should i start with her?

>>17038634
I think you mean the chain of dogs

>>17038393
dear /sffg/,

my teacher is making me write a paper on the definition of science fiction. any ideas on what that would be?

>>17038855
That is also an excellent choice. Need to re-read that.

>>17038861
Anon I don't think you're allowed to post on this website

Reading rhythm finally. Holy god shallan is even worse somehow. Does she die or get better? I'm about a third through.

Has anyone else read this book? What is your interpretation about the rape/weird sex shit that goes on in it?

I've posted this before but every time I see this book brought up on /lit/ everyone refers to it as being this super comfy fairy tale, but there's so much uncomfortable shit going on in this book that I find this such a strange opinion. (There's an entire section about a guy going around fucking underage girls, and there's a part where a guy rapes his cousin while she's asleep).

I really don't know why people parade this book around as 'comfy' reading.

>>17038435
Imagine fucking Sranc

I will Unite /sffg/ through Shallan hate.

>>17038946
Remove Shallan

Replace with Adolin's holy quest to fuck his sword

>>17038936
They’re so delicious though. Two double Sranc burgers to go, hold the pickle, please!

Faggotspren

>>17038930
the end of the book essentially sets her up to be a marginally less annoying cunt in the next book, which promises to be a szeth book and to wrap up the current odium arc, so hopefully you'll only have to skip ~150 pages or so instead a third of the goddamn book.

>>17038954
if maya does not become his radiant spren in book 5 i will be profoundly disappointed with the book, regardless of what else happens.

>>17038968
HOW LONG HAVE YOU SERVED GOLGOTTERATH?

>>17038930
She has some closure by the end that will fundamentally change (probably fix) her personality to some degree, but you'll probably hate it.

>>17039006
It's being set up pretty heavily that if they do gain a proper magic-endowing bond it's not going to be like Radiants. Adolin will never slide around in an expensive suit with a smug grin on his face.

>>17039006
I had a harebrained bullshit theory that Adolin might be moving toward a new Bondsmith based on reviving dead-eyes.

>>17039009
If Radiant had been subsumed too I'd agree but since that part of her brain damage is still present I'm not holding out much hope

>>17038518
Hey man I told you to read Sword of Truth don't look at me

>>17038641
seconding this for kino sff cunny

>>17038393
>What are the best battle scenes in scifi/fantasy?

commonwealth series had some epic battles

>>17039083
How could you possibly recommend sword of truth

>>17039119
Only books I've reread more than once, although I skipped the worst 3(5,7,8) for the re-reads.
Anyway, the reason I recommend them is because unlike Wheel of Time and Malazan which are 7/10 or whatever for pretty much everyone, SoT is a love/hate series. Recommend it to a random person and it could be a 3/10 for them, but it could also be a 9/10.

>>17038641
I'm also interested in this aesthetic

>>17039213
Literally who could possibly consider sword of truth a 9? Did they have brain damage?

>>17039327
Me obviously. If you couldn't infer that then I'd worry about your own brain compadre

>>17039029
I mean, we probably will need to deal with what made Shallan break her bond to get rid of Radiant,
Probably her trying to kys imo lul

>>17038861
the foreword to Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness has a very nice essay from her about writing sci-fi and what it means to her

reread warrior prophet yesterday, i fell for the same trap as the first time though, getting to the last 20% late at night, it's unputdownable at that point, everything climaxes and comes together at the point.

Kinda pisses me off that all the great names got away with their bullshit though, conphas is hateable as fuck.

Also I totally forgot the scene where Kellhus is running from like 5 skin spies and ends up in a dark well or something, touches everything really fast and memorises the room, then kills them in the dark, takes off his robe to trick them with his scent, really cool stuff.

but it also made me realise that kellhus would have got owned by the 100 skin spies with chorae if it wasn't for the ajokli possession

>>17039372
I know it was you
I was hoping your tard handler would see it and understand. Do I need to post the evil chicken? The abortion? The entire series past halfway through book two?

/sffg/, the spark of my soul has gone to sleep for the winter, and I'm stuck here abandoned by my own soul.

what do I do?

>>17039817
Eh give me a break man. WoT has just as much retarded shit, the only reason you think SoT is any worse is because the series starting getting dogpiled by assmad commies after it got political and now you, being the sheep you are, think that's what you're supposed to do

>>17038518
I'm halfway through the first book right now, friend

>>17038518
[SPOILER]MORE LIKE WASTE OF TIME AMIRITE??[/spoiler]

>>17039609
ty

>>17039007
>B-but I did everything exactly as you commanded me, as you prepared me to do, my Lord-and-Prophet.....
> gets hung from circumfix
> gets throat slit
> goes to hell
> burns for all eternity
dammit, Kellhus! why you gotta be like that to your pals

>>17038447
amazingly shit

>>17039930
But I hated it ever since I read atlas shrugged right after faith of the fallen and realized he's just a giant hack

It's not even a good sword.

>>17039916
read. thats what im doing. just hold our for a little longer anon, we'll get through it

>>17039804
Yeah that scene in I think the aquifer (?) is rad as fuck. Too bad Kellhus has to be Kellhus the rest of the time. Warrior Prophet imo is the best book in both series.

Any good series with a nordic setting aside from Witcher?

>>17040151
multiple people RQ TUC after that

>>17040219
sot is kinda based desu, just triggers redditors because "MUH STATUE STOPPED THE COMMIES"

>>17039420
I don't think this is supposed to be a mystery, she broke her bond because of the trauma of having killed hef mom

>>17038393
the forever war had good battle

>>17038931
You are on 4chan. People are here because they can’t deal with real life due to emotional problems combined with empathy deficiencies. What did you expect?

Can someone write a fantasy/sci-fi book that can tell a story with twists and turns that doesn't go like... oh hey these two characters finally met and are settling down to talk about the big mystery
Scene change
Three books later
Remember when we talked about the thing???

NOOO YOU CAN'T JUST ROOT FOR KELLHUS, HE'S THE BIG BAD AMORAL MAN NOOOO

Do any good Cyberpunk books exist? I've already read Neuromancer and Do Androids Dream, but nothing beyond those.

>>17041543
Count Zero
Vurt
Mirrorshades
Snowcrash

>40 pages of walking around and eating
>trouble comes
>new character(s) save the day, bringing everyone to safe place
>poems with lots of names and places no one knows
>rinse and repeat
Wow. This is supposed to be the height of the fantasy genre.

>>17041677
Even on an anonymous site, outing yourself as a complete retard in this way is pretty embarrassing

>>17041543
If you want a bitch basic detective story in a cyberpunk setting Altered Carbon is readable

I want to get into Scifi, so I'm going to read:
>The Foundation trilogy
>Hyperion
>Dune
over the following months. are these a great start for someone who hasn't read sf since the Thrawn trilogy? I like large scale stories, and I want them to be up to par quality-wise.

>>17041789
Yes

>>17039108
what's /sffg/'s stance on Peter F. Hamilton? I started with the Night's Dawn trilogy, but I quite like halfway through. worth getting back into?

>>17041543
the shadowrun books are pretty great if you dont mind jewish dragons and elven hackers.

>>17041798
>jewish dragons
Aren't all dragons Jewish though?
>Love gold
>Killed Christians
>Breath fire

>>17041736
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to...

>>17041677
I actually agree with this. Lotr is shit. Silmarillion though...

>>17038931
I found it extremely comfy but yeah there were some uncomfortable bits. Wasn't the cousin reasonably ok with being fucked in her sleep? I don't recall the underage bit, was that the guy in The City?

>>17038954
my man Adolin will carve a hole through the blade of his sword from the sheer thrusting power of his rock hard erect penis in book 10 and fuck it as Roshar collapses into itself for the ultimate climax and subsequently the conclusion of the series.

>>17038518
I started Eye of the World a few days ago and am enjoying it. Its not THAT bad.

>>17042061
Let us know how you feel once you're about 6,000 more pages in.

>>17041826
think of all the stereotypes that are attributed to jews.
in shadowrun they all apply to dragons and are completely real.

>>17042075
I've watched most of Grey's Anatomy and the 1960s run of Dark Shadows. I can handle any soap opera bullshit that Jordan throws at me, so don't worry. I'll be finishing this series one way or another.

>>17042095
That's not the problem. You're eventually going to get to a point at which you're reading entire books in which nothing happens, literally entire books of filler.

>>17041543
if protocyberpunk counts The stars my destination is amazing

>>17042061
Enjoy it.
I finished it a few days ago, and it was a really good intro/prologue. Very long winded, but extremely comfy.
Haven't started book 2 yet, as I wanted to throw something else in between reads as not to get burnt out.

Post your main character rankings so far.

>>17042110
>implying Dark Shadows doesn't have filler

Nothing fucking happens in the first 210 episodes, mate. Its just people wndering around and arguing until Loomis releases Barnabas from his coffin and the show starts to get good.

>>17042123
I'm not that far in, so I guess I'll just post what I vaguely recall from first trying to read this series years ago.

Mat>Rand>Nynaeve>Moirane>Perrin>>>>>>>Egwene

>>17042157
>Egwene last

How is this such a common theme?
Did Jordan want her to be so hated by everyone, or was she just poorly written?

I can't stand the cunt, and according to others, this is her best book.

Nynaeve is best girl so far.

>>17038518
The part where Egwene gets enslaved is hot.

>>17042168
It's because Egwene is just Nynaeve 2.0. Except that Nynaeve is a cunt because she's trying to look out for the Emond's Fielders, and protect them from the (pretty fucking shady) influence of Moirane.

Egwene is just a cunt for the sake of being a cunt.

>>17042168
>Thinks Rand is dead
>Instantly tries to hook up with a gypsy
>Finds out Rand talks to any other girl
>Acts like a jealous cunt

I'm glad Min told him that they will never get together. She is the worst.

>>17041677
>>17041853
the filter is so real

>>17038393
Dear Reader of this post,
What are you thoughts on book "backlogs" and to-read lists?
I recently tried making a schedule out of my to-read list and the results were displeasing. At first it didn't seem to be that much, but when I added in all the subsequent books from all the various series, it became rather a lot. I'm not a patient person, among other difficulties, so when I saw that it would take me several years to read everything I currently have listed, it caused me quite a bit of consternation. Now I don't know what to do about it. There will be always be more books, far more than one can read in a lifetime, so what I probably need to do is having higher standards and better time management. Though, if I were to really take that to heart I wouldn't be here at all, let alone posting this.
What do you think? Is it better to just read as you go without any concerns?

>>17042526
I keep a list, and I limit it to one book per author. I mainly just use it to keep track of things that seem interesting to me so that I don't forget them. I don't try to schedule anything. I just look through it and pick something, or pick something from an author I've already read.

>>17041543
>>17041543
I also came after cyberpunk 2077.

>>17042680
I often wonder whether these are ironic and if not then are they genuinely happy or is it just a facade?

>>17038518
The part where we finally see a Forsaken (besides Ismael) in action and Nyneave slaps the shit out of her was hot

>>17042837
No one is genuinely happy nowadays.

>>17042837
they tell me that he consumes onions

>>17041677
>>40 pages of walking around and eating
>trouble comes
>new character(s) save the day, bringing everyone to safe place

name 3 examples

>>17043171
in the forest when the random elves show up, on the mountain when gandalf shows up and near rivendell when glorfindel shows up

>>17043212
God is real and the events that occur aren't random coincidences.

>>17041796
desu with you my friend, you made a mistake and should start with Pandora's Star. If you like it, you will be unable you restrain yourself from reading the 6 books that follow it. I've known people who read the entire ~7,000 pages in a month. His other stuff gets mixed reviews. Its not exactly high brow but it is my favorite series ever

Just finished pic related. I thought it was a substantial improvement over Ender's Game. The biology of the piggies was interesting, and I found the overall story to be quite moving, particularly the later segments regarding Human. Card's writing was also much better; the prose in Ender's Game was frankly bad in many places. I'd give Ender's Game a 3/5 and Speaker for the Dead a 5/5.

>>17043573
Am I the only one who prefers Bean's books over all of Ender's?
Also when the fuck is the last one coming out?

>>17043662
I'll let you know when I get to them. My tentative plan is to read Xenocide and Children of the Mind next, then read a few different books by other authors so I don't burn out, then go into Ender's Shadow.

>>17043573
Also what the fuck is that supposed to be on the book cover? There isn't anything remotely like that in the book. I read it as an ebook which just had a generic cover so I was surprised when searched up the paperback cover to post here.

>>17043212
the elves dont save them, what mountain, glorfindel is one

im not a homosexual, i really like his books but... i'm so loyal to him bros.. i would do anything...

>>17042061
It's not that bad but it's super basic

>>17043735
>read all of his books and shorts
>try to read his blog
>dont undertand anything
Am I a retard?

>>17043735
He is my Lord-and-Prophet
He may be an autistic canadian dickhead but
I would die for him
I would go to Hell for him
I would let him use me in ways I've never been used before

>>17043799
yeah i dont understand his blog either, makes me feel like a brainlet, i get like half of it though and it makes me depressed :(

>>17043839
>>17043799
he is a philosophy PhD after all. he's just flexing

>>17043880
his crash space short story made me borderline suicidal for a couple of days, and i've literally never considered it before

>>17038393
Fuck the Coof
E William Brown

books like this

>>17044135
Like what?
Politics?
Boring bureaucracy?
War?

>>17043968
Really? Why?

>>17042680
Nothing wrong with exploring literature that features an aesthetic and setting you enjoy, you dumb faggot

>>17044284
>>17042680
It's more than that, it's going back to the source material instead of a retread.

How many SFF books in total do you think there are worth reading for you? How many of will you be able to read? Knowing the previous answer, is it still worthwhile to read that which you aren't sure you'll enjoy?

>>17044638
quality beats quantity for me, that's why i'll gladly reread bakker, lotr, dune, leguin before trying to slog through some lesser material. mediocre fantasy is really bad desu.

>>17043735
Can someone explain the appeal? I read the darkness that comes before and it was like reading an eight hundred page silmarillon with no context and even less happens

>>17044687
It's all incredibly bad outside of a handful of stuff that redeems the genre. Just, holy shit. 95% of science fiction is just star marines... space marines... return of the marines in space, then the sequel, marines in space: star corps

>>17044781
You wouldn't get it.
It's only for intellectuals like myself.

Just finished RoW and I need to rant.

Sanderson REALLY needs a better editor, someone that will tell him to cut the 400 pages of absolute bullshit that is completely unnecessary padding out of each of his Stormlight books.

Also Rhythm of War is the worst of the SA books by a wide margin.
>80% of the book is either Shallan, Navani, or Singer/Listener/Fused chapters.
>of that 80% you can chop out a solid 40-60% and not miss a single beat
>The handful of Adolin chapters are him being an absolute idiot every step of the way and being bailed out by STRONG WOMAN
>The handful of Kaladin chapters are WOE IS ME until he finally pulls himself together
>Dalinar does fuck all
>That chapter between Dalinar and Odium bickering over terms is one of the most boring chapters of any book I've ever read - it's literally two men arguing over nonsense.
The actual ending with Taravangian is neat I guess, but somehow days after getting the power he's able to fuck with Wit and that's just ridiculous.

I'll pick up 5, just to see how it all ends, but I don't plan on picking up anything else that he writes. He's the ultimate example of a writer where you're better off just reading the wiki to get the plot points and the story beats.

>>17044638
I drop a lot of books once I get the gist of it and know it's not for me. I'm pretty sure an amazing end that makes a slog worth it or it gets good later isn't a thing for me.

>>17044135
Daniel Black

>>17039013
>>17039026
either of these are fine, as long as maya comes back and adolin get's to be more of a player like he was in books 1/2, right now he's kinda sidelined

>>17045097
yeah we know man, he isn't a good writer, and most of the stormlight books should probably have been edited out. this is not news.
he's the kind of writer you need a companion book for that just tells you hey, skip this chapter, here's a 1 sentence summary of the important things that happened in this chapter or if there even were any.

>>17041796
Hamilton is garbage.

( )
Consult gang here

>>17046538
>tfw never got invited to the inverse fire parties

>>17045097
>hate-reading things you don't enjoy so you can shitpost about it
Do you people actually think this is some sort of intellectual stance?

>>17046677
Checked.
>Would shut the World from the hungry Gods forever. = No more damnation.
>Millions and millions of souls are going to go to Hell, but they were headed there anyway.
>A world overrun with Sranc wouldn't be that bad. Well, at least it's better than eternal damnation.
>I can tell Anon hasn't looked in the inverse fire and seen the Truth, which is why he still blindly follows the fake and gay Asscrack-Emperor K*llhus.
Take the Consultpill anon. Based Erratics and Mangaecca-Chads welcome.

>>17041789
Look into Iain Banks' Culture series

>>17042061
I read that first as "eyes of the overworld" and was ready to throw down

>>17047336
Every now and then the memory of Cugel giving that bitchy woman to the smelly forest men as a rape slave crosses my mind.

>>17046852
Wouldn't the people already damned still be stuck in hell though?

>>17047688
Yeah but who cares. Taking the consultpill means putting yourself above all others. As long as you escape damnation it’s worth.

>>17038623
Cordwainer Smith loves his catgirls and is surprisingly pleasant to read.

>>17048017
Any recommendations?

>>17047688
as if K*llhus actually wants to save the souls in Hell instead of just eating them. Yum, yum, soulfood tastes good for Daddy K AKA the new God in town.

>>17038393
I wish there was more science fiction like this one bros, it's just so fucking good, it also kind of explores things I don't see too much, also it's quite old, very nice in general.
Anyhow do you like Tolkien's other nonrelated fantasy stories? Such as Giles of ham, that one was great.

>>17048231
It also fits with the battles without honor or humanity theme of the thread

Ted Chiang’s Story “The Truth of Fact, The Truth of Feeling” to Be Adapted for TV

https://www.tor.com/2020/12/16/ted-chiangs-story-the-truth-of-fact-the-truth-of-feeling-to-be-adapted-for-tv/

>>17048282
Honor is dead

>>17049051
HONOR IS NOT DEAD SO LONG AS HE LIVES IN THE HEARTS OF MEN!

>>17049198
Get him out of here!

>>17038767
I really enjoyed Cyteen and Regenesis. And the Chanur series

>>17049240
Notum was an underrated sleeper moment. That whole trial. Just damn.

>>17049460
I definitely felt the "When are they going to get to the fireworks factory" pains when they got to Lasting Integrity and the book just kinda... forgets about them for a longass time

>>17049640
And then nothing else happens with them the entire book

>>17042061
Truthfully I think Eye of the World is great. It's wonderful generic 80s fantasy (although published in 1990 obviously). I had to give up after book 7, but the first few books are pretty cool. It should've been a trilogy.

This series any good? I like necromancers so it caught my eye.

Really enjoyed the snippets of the revolution in Red Mars. Railguns, orbital missile strikes, hurling an asteroid at Earth, toppling the Space Elevator. It is appropriately fragmented and chaotic for a planet wide conflict under a communications blackout.

>>17045097
There's way less Shallan this book around. Navani is pretty boring if you don't care about fabrial 'tism and Venli+her flashbacks are boring too
How is Adolin being an idiot?
Kaladin might be depressed but he still does what he can to protect the tower
Dalinar does fuck all because most of what he does this book is offscreened.
Fuck you, the chapter between Dalinar and Odium was great.
How the hell is it ridiculous that a literal god can fuck with Wit ? He clearly says he's exploiting a loophole by not harming it directly, just his memories.

Whoever posted this pic in the last thread, is this about an actual series or all just made up?

>>17050436
oh fuck please tell me thats the second apocalypse. the top left shit looks like exactly what im looking for in fantasy

>>17050262
Somebody posted a long review of it some months back, here's a link to it in the archive (it's two posts)
>>/lit/thread/S14949541#p14964853
>>/lit/thread/S14949541#p14964859

>>17050436
It's obviously made up

>>17050489
Looks like some of it is loosely based on that.

>>17044258
have you read it?

>>17044781
I feel like there's a lot of context given

>>17050489
it's not but the second apocalypse is a LOT like that

>>17041543
seconding snowcrash

>>17050906
>>17041556
Thanks! I have added it to my to-read list

My year in books is hilarious, started off trying to sincerely read more classics of the genre and then ended up reading xianxia shit for 8 months

>>17050262
It's very bantery, so the breaking point will really depend on whether you will enjoy/tolerate a quip a minute of not. Main plot is mystery with a bit of murder.
>>17050538
that guy is a terrible reviewer, best to not trust them too much

>>17044638
There's probably at least 10,000 worthwhile genre fic books
The problem of course is finding them once you get past the obvious choices.

It can take centuries for a previously disregarded book to be rediscovered and enter into the main literary canon and this is a very young genre that didn't really hit its boom until about 30 years ago

As a note, not all my reviews are posted here because they aren't all SFF.

>>17050538
That was one of the earlier write-ups where I had even less of an idea how I wanted to do it. I ought to revise some of them eventually, on Goodreads anyway.

>>17051277
>that guy is a terrible reviewer
I completely agree. I try not to call them reviews, but it's simply and I slip up a lot.

>best to not trust them too much
Best not to trust any one person too much, which is why you can look what the /sffg/ group, currently 287 members thinks about it.
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show_book/1029811-sffg?book_id=42036538 (has to be group member to view)
Looks like it's currently four 5 stars and 2 4 stars with 3 reviews. I lowered mine to 4 stars after reading the 2nd book and for a few other reasons.

It can't be helped if others don't want to post there reviews here or vice versa.

and now, speaking of "terrible", as in not enjoyable for:

>>17038393
Golden State - Ben Winters (2019)

I'm very disappointed. Once again I've been fooled by an intriguing idea that turns out to be an utter mess. This is an allegorical novel. I hope it is anyway, as that's the best defense I can think of for how nonsensical the plot is and how all the characters act as if they were symbolic gestures rather than people. Maybe it's all meant to be an epistemological joke, but I'm not laughing. The premise of the novel is that "dissonance from reality", lying, counterfeiting, and anything else that transgresses the Objectively So is the worst crime. This includes works of fiction, which is one of the greatest crimes someone could commit.
The protagonist is a member of the SS, the Speculative Service, though the reference to the Schutzstaffel is also meant, whose members are the only ones allowed to Speculate. They also have the alleged ability detect dissonances in reality.
In this society, which is Los Angeles sometime in the future, though it's secluded from rest of world, everything is recorded and everyone must provide a daily account of their activities and interactions to the government. It's the only way to maintain Civilization after all. Their method of punishment of undesirables is Exile which to them is synonymous with Death. Aside from criminals, Undesirables include those with any mental illness, including dementia, and those with cognitive deficits or amnesia, which all are summed up as "neural nonconformity".
I had thought that their ability was supernatural, psychic perhaps, but it turned out that (full spoiler) their entire society is based on several collective delusions. The SS have no ability to detect anything other than what their intuition and pattern recognition tells them, and it doesn't really matter, because what they decide is the truth anyway. The members of the SS don't realize this and believe they each literally have the supernatural ability, which includes visual hallucinations, to discern the Objectively So, when it's simply their own personal truth.
There's a scene where a man, who is angry with protagonist, reads a detailed account from his life journal of how he cuckolded the protagonist and then he immediately commits suicide .
It turns out that greatest weakness to their society are (full spoiler) actors. Yes, actors have the ability to convince themselves that their stated reality is the actual reality. Thus, when an actor tells the protagonist that he, the actor, is a hologram, the actor is able to project such conviction that the protagonist believes him to be a hologram. He then shoots the actor, killing him, and destroying all his ideals of what is real, to which the actor mouths, "worth it." Similar exploits happen.
The ending is horrendous for being a novel, but entirely suitable in completing the allegory.
I won't be reading anything else from this author and I shouldn't have read this.

Rating: 1/5

>>17040272
what game is that anon

Has anybody here read pic related?
I read it in Polish, and remember liking it, but from what I've seen of the translation, it looks completely scuffed.
Also, I fucking hate that they used some random chalice instead of Brugel's Triumph of Death. The blurb completely misrepresents the book, too.

>>17051647
https://store.steampowered.com/app/617480/Tower_of_Time/
I've also seen a 'Thanos' Sword', a blue telephone box, and two Kelsier's pistols with a specific enchant that allows for armor reduction on hit, although I don't think this Kelsier is a reference.

>>17051891
so just kinda small easter eggs?

>>17052047
Seems that way, yeah. They're not plot-relevant or anything otherwise.

i like medieveal books with sieges adventures like game of thrones but not game of thrones.. what do you recomennd?

>>17052136
Its hard to find a good english translation, but Sienkiewicz's Trilogy has what you want. A lot of seiges, a lot of adventures, a lot of fun.

>>17052136
Google KJ Parker maybe.

>>17044781
TDTCB is the hardest to read. TWP (book 2) is a lot closer to the form of the rest of the series.

The Dread Empire short stories are fun.

>>17051696
What book series did he plagiarize this one off?

my wife got me pic related for xmas, what am i in for?

>>17038518
i read the first 7 or 8 books about 20 years ago. i liked them.

>>17052820
Divorce.
Why are you opening your presents so early?

>>17052642
Is it worth? Its been a minute, but all I really remember is exceedingly dry storytelling without even any 40 page philosophy monologues to keep you interested

>>17050431
>How is Adolin being an idiot?
Because every step of the way he tries to prove that he has value since everyone is a radiant except for him, and every step of the way he makes wrong choices that are obviously wrong.
>throwing away his title
Idiot choice
>begging to go to Shademarr so he can convince the Honor spren to help, even though he was told by spren, honor spren, humans, and Radiants to not bother because most honor spren are nuts
Idiot choice
>"I will stand trial for all of mankind"
Idiot choice
>Ranting to the honor spren about how they're a bunch of bastards while he's in the middle of a trial that will doom him and mankind for the rest of eternity
Idiot choice.

My point was that of the 1200 pages there's maybe 400 pages worth of story stretched out for an insane amount. There are entire chapters, especially Navani chapters, that should boil down to 2-3 sentences, but they go on for quite literally 10-15 pages.

Sanderson does this thing where he drastically over explains and overanalyzes some of the most mundane things that don't need it. Rather than paint a scene by telling you what the scenery is like or the smells and sights and sounds, he tells you meticulous why character is acting the way they are through this weird half-internal-dialog-half-exposition style that I've honestly never seen another author use.

>>17042168
Nynaeve is one of the best characters in the entire series. She remains loyal to Rand and is one of the only people he trusts up until the very end, much to the chagrin of many Aes Sedai who keep trying to wrangle Rand for their own ends. Moiraine also becomes a lot better after she stops trying to lead Rand around by the nose and humbles herself.

Finally finished the second apocalypse series.

I was afraid that the author wouldn’t find new ideas for this series.
That the last few books would just repeat the same and it would be slog to read through. But when he picks up old ideas, he expends it or adds a new twist to it. So, it was still a fun read and let me finish the series, unlike Malazan.

Only real disappointment was the “truth” about the Dûnyain.
That most of they skills are hereditary and the training was just refinement, was kind of a let-down. And while I liked the craziness of the half-breed family, they felt sometimes too goofy for me.
The emotionless calculator girl, the shit throwing 1000IQ ape and then the home-alone kid spooking the servants. It was just a bit too much.
The whalemothers didn’t help either. It made zero sense to breed the woman like that. And instead of another example of Dûnyain iniquity it felt like a bad grimderp 40k excerpt.

Still will need some time and think about some things I didn’t understand then cheating and looking everything up online.

>>17052858
His Christmas ends tomorrow

>>17049051
Indeed, especially when your enemy relies on mind control and death rays to kill you. Also a mass death poison.

>>17053192
>throwing away his title
What? He's still highprince. He refused to be king in the last book but because he thought he'd do a terrible job.
> even though he was told by spren, honor spren, humans, and Radiants
The only one who told him not to bother was the honorspren. The rest just told him to try it because it just might work for a least a few undecided honorspren.
>"I will stand trial for all of mankind"
Completely justified since it got him into their fortress
>Ranting to the honor spren about how they're a bunch of bastards while he's in the middle of a trial that will doom him and mankind for the rest of eternity
I don't think he does that at all. Plus the trail won't doom him for eternity, the only thing the honorspren planned to do to him was to lock him up until he died. And as for mankind, the fortress' position was already to completely ignore humanity's call for aid, the trial wasn't supposed to change that at all.

It's a bit weird that you whine about Sanderson overexplaining thing while not being able to follow a very simple plot. Though I do think that RoW has a lot of moments where the plot just pauses for a couple sentence while a character explain a tidbit of the magic system purely so Sanderson' fans will have something to chew on.

I’m halfway through the Rhythm of War.

And holy shit is he dragging this fucking story. And when I thought he would not add the trash flashbacks, he leaves those for the second half of the book?

This can’t be worse than Oathbringer, right?

>>17052706
how does the series compare to the black company? (i've read books of north and south)

>>17054052
each book in the stormlight archive is progressively worse than the book that preceeded it, the only good book is the first.

>>17054168
I’m literally 600 pages in and there hasn’t been a single satisfying plot payoff. He’s milking everything to oblivion. It’s fucking annoying. I’m fucking sick of having to deal with the same two main characters dealing with their mental health problems for well over 3000 pages now.

Also, no Szeth, no Renarin, no Shinovar. What the fuck?

I’d much rather follow completely new stories with new characters on the other side of the world.

He also has this terrible habit of repeating the same shit dozens of times for no reason.

Kaladin is being more annoying than Shallan somehow, which is an incredible feat.

>>17054232
there's like 3 major plot payoffs in the entire book and the ending made me groan, szeth and shinovar are supposed to be the focus of the next book. he does repeat stuff a lot, i tend to skip a solid third of his writing when i recognize what the paragraph is going to be and that i've already been told about this character's mental state 6 fucking times.

>>17054232
>Kaladin is being more annoying than Shallan somehow, which is an incredible feat.
You're being irrationnal here, anon

>>17054420
Kaladin has done jack shit other than whine and cry for the first half of the book. Haven’t we gone through this shit in the first book already? At Least Shallan is doing something interesting.

>>17054448
I mean he did save a whole town and invented PTSD therapy

>>17054232
Moash kills Teft, Kaladin swears the 4th ideal, Navani bonds with the Sibling and becomes a new Bondsmith, Navani discovers how to permanently kill both the fused and spren, Taravegian kills Odium and becomes the new Odium, Kelsier from Mistborn is Thaidakar, the leader of the ghostsbloods, one of the heralds is bringing the bodies of spren to the physical world to expermint with them and operate on them (which shouldn't be possible).

There, I just saved you another 600 pages of nonsense.

>>17054614
Literally how the fuck is kelsier thaidakar

>>17054614
KILL YOURSELF, MY MAN
-_____

>>17054745
Should I even know who Kelsier is? I fucking hate this cosmere bullshit.

>>17054232
>He’s milking everything to oblivion. It’s fucking annoying.
That can happen when you overplan - it's a crucial plot point, but when you get into it, it might not be a book.

>>17052136
Legend by Gemmell is all about a siege

>>17055064
this, it's also quite good, his first book, and the end of a chronological series that he subsequently wrote later about druss the legend. if you're going to read gemmell, do yourself a favor and read it chronologically, you can find the order via google.
he doesn't have any bad books, but the john shannow stuff is more magic/multiple universes focused than the rest of his stuff, so it sort of sticks out. all the druss books are great, first one is probably the best, legend is much better when it's the end of a series instead of a standalone.

>>17054804
It happens when you plan to sell more books by dragging everything out. I mean I get it, everyone needs money but it's boring and hurts the story.

>>17054804
We’re almost halfway through this colossus of a series and he’s unnecessarily milking the exact same spots on the Atlas and the exact same 3/4 characters for reasons that are oblivious to me.

At least the Malazan series’ author had the decency of splitting the story properly between regions.

After reading pretty much every epic fantasy series on the charts, I still don’t understand why people shit on the Malazan series so much. Steven Erikson, for all his flaws, was one of the very few authors who could actually draw a plot around rich characters that could actually make dialogues believable.

>>17055253
But that's just where it would happen...just over the horizon from where he started. It's why I won't read serious series before they're finished.

>>17055159
This is true in general, but it's not what happened here. He writes books in Excel and sales might change the tone but nothing else.

>>17055159
i don't think he's drawing it out to milk it for cash, you don't write 1200 page books that sell for the same price as a 300 page book because of your lust for money. we could easily have 7 or 8 stormlight books right now, even with a good chunk of the shitty content (shallan, most of the flashback stuff, venli, eshonai, etc), and he'd have made more $.

>>17053192
>the book that's literally supposed to be about explaining fantasy physics gets bogged down in explaining fantasy physics
You know, I always hated Lord of the Rings for its gay ass fantasy races and dumb obsession with made up languages. You know how much time Tolkien would've saved if he'd stop being such a worldbuilding faggot and just described the action of the story?

>>17055396
f i l t e r e d

>>17054786
>I fucking hate this cosmere bullshit.
Why do you people even bother reading it then? Do you just not pay attention when the author says things like "this is the series that mostly ties the cosmere together"?

>>17054745
Thaidakar meant "Lord of Scars", Wit mentions he's met Thaidakar from another world, and said that [Hoid] would go back to his plant and slip him around again, a reference to Secret History where Hoid and Shadow-Kelsier got into a tussle, Kelsier last left off consumed by the need to prepare his world against the coming threats of the Cosmere, and it's the perfect little Cosmere bullshit that Sanderson pulls. Just like Azure is Vivenna from Warbreaker, and Zahel is Vasher from Warbreaker, Thaidakar is Kelsire from Mistborn.

>well yes, big gemstones retain more stormlight
>did I forget to mention that larger gemstones contain more stormlight?
>they brought larger gemstones to Shadesmar because those retained stormlight longer

Why can’t we have actual good writers writing fantasy?

>>17055418
Sorry, I completely forgot that I needed a degree in cosmere studies to pick up on newest works of the philosopher Brandon Sanderson.

>>17055418
You’re a retarded fanboy.

>>17055418
didn't know literally any of this was interconnected, if it wasn't pointed out i wouldn't have noticed, or cared, still don't much care either. until all of the books are completed some grand overarching background plot is effectively irrelevant to the books you're reading now.

>>17055418
>buy 1 book
>Yes, this is a 10 book series
>buy 10 books
>Sorry kiddo, you need to buy 40 books to get the full picture.

Kek. I would say that Sanderson is a genius, but only idiots like yourself would fall for this.

>>17052732
not him but you need to slit your wrists razorcuck

>>17054090
I'd say they are on par with The Books of the South. Not as good as The Books of the North but keep you going.

I've read the main trilogy and the prequels. A couple of them had some pacing issues. I recommend starting with A Shadow of All Night Falling if you want to give it a shot.

>>17055502
The main problem is that he’s going all out with the cosmere bullshit here. I’ve read some of his other books and none of them were as outrageous as this one. I haven’t read warbreaker and I feel like now I’m missing out a lot because of it. I remember Hoid being in Mistborn, but only vaguely, an Easter egg really. The more he writes, the more convoluted this shit becomes to the point of feeling like I’m missing out on a lot of important plot aspects.it’s a disgusting business practice really.

>>17055590
i dunno about business practice but it does make for worse books. if your readership has to have read literally everything you've already written in order to understand your current book in your flagship series, you done fucked up. none of this shit is going to properly make sense til it's all said and done anyway, which is like 30 years away.

ive never read sanderson. Are the stormlight books at least as good as YA stuff like percy jackson and rangers apprentice?

>>17055590
In fairness you don't need to know anything about Warbreaker or the other books to understand SA. It enhances the read to know that this minor character that the main cast interacts with is actually one of the main cast from another book, but it's not crucial to know that Azure is Vivenna. It's all just fluff.

The only character that's actually important is Hoid/Wit, because he's the "main character" of the Cosmere epic that Sanderson has been writing, but even then in all the other books he's been in, he only pops up and does his story telling schtick and then fucks off. He's way, way, way more of a character in SA than anything else. He's in half a chapter at best, a few sentences at worst, in the rest of the Cosmere books.

>>17055618
I didn’t know that books actually had DLC and season passes like video games.

>>17055590
You're not actually missing anything. Still. The point is Stormlight is being setup as the average person's first entrance into the full cosmere. He's purposely harping on it so people with no knowledge at all have at least enough to engage with the evolving plot of Roshar.
And again, if you or any of the other frothing haters are mad about there being more cosmere than weird-post-pseudo-apocalypse political thriller you have no one to blame but yourselves. Stop hatereading things just to make yourselves upset.

>>17055618
>>17055657

That’s definitely a great argument to discourage people from reading Sanderson.

>>17055598
yeah book 1's alright. if you can stomach the shitty marysue protagonist the mistborn series is a better starting point and is actually finished.

>>17055575
i thought books of south were still pretty enjoyable, so i'll try it out

>>17055657
>>17055618

Imagine defending this.

>>17055664
>>17055683
It's not really that much different than what King does where all his books take place in this weird King-Verse, or Terry Prachett, where it's a bunch of loosely connected stories in the same setting.

But go ahead, go off.

>>17055695
Why are you being so defensive?

Where his books that bad?

>>17055785
I'm not being "so defensive" at all. I'm explaining to you that you're wrong in thinking that reading the whole Cosmere is of grand importantace to SA or to the rest of his books.
Reading the rest of the cosmere does jack shit to enhance Warbreaker or Mistborn era 1 / 2 or Elantris. The only one where it enhances it is SA and like I said, it's only a very small handful of minor side characters, and Wit, who we've gotten far more characterization out of in SA than anywhere else.

If you don't want to read Sanderson, don't. I don't care one way or another. But if you're going to start spewing factually incorrect nonsense in an attempt to win an argument, I'll counter you with the truth.

>>17055832
Based factual information poster.
>inb4 samefaggotry accusations ;^*

>>17055590
SA was always going to be the most cosmere- important series of his. Regardless, you don't /need/ to know the overall cosmere to understand what is going on at Roshar and in its system.

>>>/tv/143730354

>>17055436
I mean way more rhetorically, but while youre here... Never read secret history, the fuck happened? Wasn't he turbo good guy and also dead? I havent read mistborn since it released

>>17056116
But if I give 10% of my money to the mormon church can I get my own planet like Roshar?

>>17056516
>can I get my own planet like Roshar
Maybe.

Exaltation is a belief among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) that mankind can reach the highest level of salvation, to eternally live in God's presence, continue as families, become gods, create worlds, and bear spirit children over which they will govern
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exaltation_(Mormonism)

>>17056496
https://coppermind.net/wiki/Mistborn:_Secret_History?&&oldid=121825

>>17056570
Do I get fuck syl though, this is crucial

>>17056496
After dying by the Lord Ruler, Kelsier is taken to the moment between worlds in the Spiritual Realm and meets Preservation (one of the two Shards in the Mistborn system). He basically says fuck this, I'm not dying, and his spirit dives into the Well of Ascension, tieing him to the planet/system/Preservation/Ruin/Harmony.
He then is just sort of in the background for the rest of Mistborn era 1 slightly moving things behind the scenes so everything works out in the end. There's a couple of things in books 2/3 of era 1 of mistborn that sort of "just happen" with no explanation, like Spook no longer being under the control of Ruin. That's more or less all Shadow-Kelsiers doing.

It's more or less a giant Cosmere lore dump. Goes a lot into how the three different realms function, how people travel between the realms and star systems, how each of the shards work (not what their powers are, but how the actually manifest and what happens with them).

>>17056586
Sure, why not.

>>17056589
So why does he run an organization full of people who murder children and trade with possessed demon people from hell for money

>>17056579
Thanks

>>17053483
>beat water

le hypocrite has arrived

>>17056671
For the same reason that Vivanna is now hunting down her mentor and person she left Warbreaker world with, Vasher.

Some unknown part of the story that will eventually be revealed in some other story somewhere. We don't know HOW Kelseir went from being Shadow-Kelseir to being the leader of the Ghostsbloods, but we do know that at the end of Secret History he's very headstrong in his mission to protect his planet from the horrors of the Cosmere, and has Spook looking into Hemalurgy to try to get him back into a mortal body.

But we know that Thaidikar got his ass beat by Hoid (which happens to Kelseir), and is known as the Lord of Scars (which is in line with Kelsiers hands and arms being fucked from his time in the Pits). And we know Sanderson likes to do the shared universe thing. So you put 2+2 together and you get 4.

>The name of the Ghostbloods means something, and has roots in specific cosmere events.[14]
What could it mean???

>>17056717
I just assumed it was a reference to mistwraiths, maybe a purposely cheeky "shitty translation" that's carried over from Scadrial.

>>17056758
>>17056717
It's probably something like the original group that caused the Shattering of Adonalsium were called the Ghostbloods

does anyone know of any books similar to homestuck

>>17056713
Ah, figured there was some trilogy that explained how kelsier turned into a nutjob. Hopefully the second half of the series is odium winning and sending armies of shardbearers to fuck up everyone

>>17043341

Dammit. I'm halfway through reality dysfunction.

have you actually read it?

>>17056927
There's a new excerpt from the Sixth of the Dusk sequel with what seems to be a Skybreaker on a far-off planet negotiating against a different alien civilization for Aviar, running on warlight, and threatening motherfuckers with a shardgun. Odium shit's gonna get real wacky in the back half of Stormlight and will end up crossing into every other cosmere planet I bet.

>>17055670
Cmon anon, Vin is a bean

>>17056116
>SA was always going to be the most cosmere- important series of his.
No, that's space age Mistborn. SA he tries to stay self-contained

I need recommendations. All modern sci fi and fantasy is full of sjw shit, homosexuality or other associated faggotry. I'm having a tough time finding shit to read.

>>17057245
Hopefully. Also hopefully he figures out how to edit

>>17056671
It's implied in RoW that Kelsier is starting to be just as insane as the Heralds. Probably because humans weren't mean to live hundreds of years+as an entity of thoughts he may be influenced by how people think of him, and since he's literally the central figure of a popular religion in Mistborn era 2 it might have an effect.

>post-SA
HIDE YO KIDS
HIDE YO DAUGHTERS
ODIUM'S OUT AND HE'S RAPING EVERYBODY

To throw my hat into the Cosmere talk, I cringe really hard whoever it crops up in books that are otherwise not about it. As I was going through RoW the bit where Shallan gets infodumped at irritated me, but I can’t help but be interested in some of it. Iirc they mention that Harmony has an agent working for him, and as gay as it is I get some enjoyment out of imagining a character like Wax or Marsh as his goon moving throughout the cosmos

>>17057337
He's said modern Mistborn is going to be cosmere connected (specifically with the advent of space travel), but he's also mentioned multiple times that Stormlight is always where he intended to expand cosmere connections the most.

>>17057393
MARSH
VS
MOASH
FINAL DESTINATION
Marsh would shit on most cosmere niggas

>>17057393
I can understand taking issue with infodumps. It's unfortunately kind of necessary to bring the casual readers (for my purposes, anyone who only reads SA or also other cosmere works without interest in the greater cosmere) up to date with the information more devoted readers have already put together. At least there were a few new bits included for those in the know.

>>17057393
>>17057414
Here's the real question: if surgebinders can't leave Roshar and (most) seons can't get off Sel, do you think a person whose life force is dependent on hemalurgy to survive will be able to leave Scadrial? Because Mraize makes it sound like it's not really possible.

>>17057430
>do you think a person whose life force is dependent on hemalurgy to survive will be able to leave Scadrial?
Hemalurgy is hacking other magic systems so I'm sure they'll manage something.

>>17057430
Unsure, I remember reading an interview where Sanderson talks about potential magic system interactions he might explore, specifically hemalurgy stealing other systems, so I think it’s definitely plausible

>>17057430
Sanderson confirmed that Marsh can visit others planets if he wants. So can people with Breaths since there's a lot of those in SA. I guess raw stormlight is an exception, either because stormlight is connected to Roshar directly, or because you need to contain Investiture in something to cross the worlds, and stormlight fades quickly in the cognitive realm.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/224-words-of-radiance-san-francisco-signing/#e6876
https://wob.coppermind.net/events/317-general-twitter-2018/#e10366

>>17057376
I havent read mistborn 2 yet, doesn't it take place way in the future? Figured the rest if the stuff was relatively within the same timeframe, like roshar is within 20 years of well of ascension or so

does anyone have a digital download of Drowntide sydney j van scyoc

>>17057519
SA takes place relatively in the future of the cosmere too. Titles like Elantris and Mistborn Era 1 are early in the cosmere.
There is a 300something year gap between Era 1 and Era 2.
Era 2 Mistborn takes place after SA 5 but before 6, and there will be a 10-15 year gap between SA 5 and 6.

>>17057467
>Marsh can visit others planets if he wants
Marsh has never died though. I find it more likely that he would be able to whereas Kelsier, whose continued existence is sort of dependent on his preservation-based ascension, seems less likely to impossible. Like how, if someone did manage to hemalurgically bind a nahel bond to themselves, wouldn't be able to leave Roshat at that point.

>>17057577
>if someone did manage to hemalurgically bind a nahel bond to themselves
see >>17057498
we'll see that later on

>tfw my ethnic group has so little culture that the only way to find a fantasy setting based on my heritage is to invent one myself, write a fucking novel set in it, and hope it's popular enough that they make a movie/tv show out of it that inspires imitation

I want to die /sffg/

>>17038518
>Wheel of Time
>spanked HARD
Is WoT really BDSM coomer bait or is that a meme

>>17057616
Can I ask which group?

>>17057519
There's about a 10 years timeskip between the first part of SA (books 1-5) and the second (books 6-10). Mistborn era 2 takes place during that timeskip.

>>17057655
I'm jewish.

take your best shot, right now nobody hates my people more than I do.

>>17057634
I've made it to book 9, and I can say that there is more women getting spanked, women spanking, men threatening to spank women, women threatening to spank other women, women reminding themselves of the time they got spanked, women talking about how hard some women spank them or others, women mentally preparing themselves for a spanking, women crying as they're spanked, women thinking about how a partuicular other woman should really get a spanking, and women directly picking up weapons based on how good it would be as a spanking aid that I've ever seen in my decade of reading japanese hentai practically daily.

>>17057677
I mean, I'm having trouble deciding if this post is genuine at all or low quality bait. If that makes you feel any better?
I guess it's tough when your religious culture is really just a-messianic protochristianity with a touch of nationalistic war crimes, but at least you and Christianity have that last part in common.

>>17057616
That sounds like a path to insulting bullshit, even w/ Jewishness aside.

>>17057768
it's genuine autism. I picked up a torch nobody else was fucking carrying out of boredom because my therapist said it sounded like a good way to pass the lockdown and now I can't put it down because it's sticky with unknown fluids

also the problem isn't just the religion. My people somehow managed to go two millennia without inventing any unique form of architecture, art style, theater, armor or weaponry, and the two things we did have, fashion and cuisine, we made so abysmal that it's embarrassing to be associated with them

I've spent the past few months banging my head against this wall and doing extensive research, and while I have found things I COULD hypothetically make a cool setting out of, the fact that I'm a writer and not, say, an artist, means that if I wanted to bring it to life I would have to spend months or years of my life writing, editing and publishing a novel and even then I'd be relying on a fucking game of telephone to translate my vision into visual art

>>17057795
I'm already insulted, how much more insulted could I get?

>>17057824
i am a gentile with an uncut 7.5er.

Jesus, Marx, Freud, Einstien, etc.. your people invented the philosophy of the WORLD. Totally regret waking up every day and not having the honor you do. Cherish it.

>>17057850

>>17057677
Just take inspiration from the kabbalistic system, manipulation of the hebrew alphabet and things like that for your magic system.
Also, like >>17057768 said, play with the protochristianity theme.

This was pretty damn good. I wish the climax was written more impactfully though

Also I can't imagine why an ardent Christian would be okay with creating armies of undead/soulless persons

>>17056887
17776

>>17058263
gotta have troops. i think zelazny was trying to show how leaders or people compromise their beliefs or take whatever course is necessary to reach their goals. like how sam pretended he was sam in the first place. he was the fake buddha ofc but it furthered his cause. and then the real buddha showed up.

Any good nautical fantasy or fantasy that takes place more recently than the Middle Ages? Something analogous to 1700-1800, say? I know Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrel takes place during the Napoleonic wars but that’s it.

>>17058989
Return of the Obra Dinn

>>17059140
Unorthodox, but correct.

>>17059140
Also Why Am I Dead At Sea

>>17038393
By the way, I got to ask, because why not. Is The Name of the Wind good? Got gifted it a couple of years back and it has been sitting untouched on the shelf, wondering if I should read it. Thought this would be the best place to ask.

>>17059478
no

>>17059518
All fantasy is cuck fantasy, anon.

>>17059478
Will it be enjoyable (good) for you? Only you can decide that. The overall consensus is that it's very good. A couple loud voices, such as the above, tend disagree.

>>17038393
Harmony - Project Itoh/Satoshi Ito (2008)

I had a problem in writing this in that I wanted to discuss it much more than I wanted "review" it.
Fun and enjoyable in a dark and cynical way. The vulgarity may be off-putting for some. The biggest obstacle to enjoyment though would be one's mindset, as it does have rather strong opinions on how life should be lived, which may be upsetting.
Those under the care of Admedistration, 80% or so of the world, live peaceful lives with minimal pain or worries. Almost all adults are filled with medical nanobots that regulate everything for them and prevent any negative affect. National governments are no longer necessary because the problems they exist to solve are no longer a concern. Everyone follows their "lifestyle pattern design" because it's the ideal way to live.
To prevent emotional disturbances, a person must have an Emotionally-traumatic Visual Information License (EVIL) to view any kind of problematic content. The default mode is that a person's life history is assessed and is able to determine all their potential triggers, so there's no need for warnings, because problematic content isn't allowed into their awareness.
Self-harm, or in other words, autonomy, can't be allowed because each person is the public property of everyone else and such actions would be to the detriment of society. It's really all a matter of resource awareness. By the same measure, hurting others is worse, including their feelings.
Everything is rated with a Social Assessment score, including people. As such, Morality Sessions are common to help one with their score.
As shown on the cover, the story revolves around three women. They have divergent approaches to one's relationship with society. There's only a single viewpoint character though.
It's common with hard SF for there to be a lot of explaining of ideas and why they matter as well as various informative digressions and they are certainly present here, regardless of whether this qualifies as hard SF.
Because it's relatively short, there's not nearly enough exploration for almost any of the ideas presented.
This novel was completed by its author while he was in the hospital dying from cancer at age 34. He died not long after its publication. It was his 3rd novel. His 4th was finished by a friend, who is also a writer, and published posthumously. It's rather unfortunate as he probably would have had a long career and many novels ahead of him.
There's an animated film adaptation, which I don't have any interest in watching, when it came out or now, because I don't think I'd enjoy it.

>I lost all hope in the world, and at the same time, learned how to live without hope.
Rating: 4/5

>>17059591
>Project Itoh

Jesus, I haven't thought about him in years.
I've only ever read his Metal Gear Solid 4 book, which was pretty good.
It's a shame he died.

Honestly asking this to people here who have actually devoured pretty much everything there is to the fantasy genre, dinosaurs included.

What are the best series (longer than a trilogy) and why?

Everything I’ve read so far that’s longer than 3 main books has been absolute dogshit. What’s the deal with the number 3 being perfect?

>>17059140
>>17059451
What about books? I can’t play vidya at work.

>>17059674
>What’s the deal with the number 3 being perfect?
Beginning, Middle, End.
If you stretch that out to 15+ books, you have books where nothing happens, or it's completely irrelevant to the overall plot.

>>17059705
1) Exposition.
2) Rising Action.
3) Climax.
4) Falling Action.
5) Resolution/Denoument
A Quintet!

>>17059674
Discworld.

>>17059674
You can go longer if each book is a distinct story rather than one continuing plot. It can have a continuing plot, but it can't rest on it.

https://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=9600

New Peter Watt's Blindopraxia sequel 'Omniscience' content

>>17059791
Yes, like a TV series.
First episode of season: PLOT
many filler episodes that don't push the plot forward in any way
Last episode of season: PLOT

>>17057677
This has got to be bait.

The Jewish culture exists in symbiosis with other cultures. There's not "Jewish setting" because the Jews are a people in perpetual exile, wandering until they find a place and setting down roots until they're scapegoated and forced onwards. If you can't build a story out of that then maybe writing isn't for you.

>>17060075
>scapegoated

>>17059674
The Drizzt Saga, because it's 32(?) books of glorious DND schlock with fun characters, neat fantasy action, and it never gets too preachy or political or dripped in social commentary.

Also it's broken up into like 10 different trilogies and one or two 4-5 book series.

>>17059478
It's beautifully written and you get lost in the story that's being told because the prose flows so well.
There's a couple of parts that drag, but overall it's a fantastic book.
Shame the second book is utter trash and the third is god knows how long away still. Read it as a stand alone novel and it's brilliant.

>>17059478
Pic related should tell you everything you need to know.

>>17060075
They get scapegoated because they refuse to assimilate.

>tfw I have 1200+ posts to catch up on to be relevant on all the happenings of the past 4 threads

>>17059478
If you like conclusions the author hasn't finished the trilogy and the last book was 13 years ago. There's extreme doubt it'll ever be finished.

>>17059674
The Amber Chronicles is 5 books but they're 200 pages each. In modern book length this could be one book but would probably be marketed as a trilogy.

>>17059753
Climax in 3rd book with 2 books of post script? Yikes.

I just finished this book. When the Baron went on about the protagonist being a disgusting elf fucker I lost my shit.

7/10 would recommend

How can I be so picky at criticising books when I couldn’t write one myself?

>>17061047
Because it's possible to recognize the quality of something (or lack thereof) without being able to produce it yourself.

>>17060687
Wait this is real and not some dumbass shoop?

Wow

NEWBREAD
>>17061141
>>17061141
>>17061141

>>17061000
Based