/lit/ - Literature

King.

I read finished Rendezvous with Rama the other day. Are the other books in the series worth reading or do they suck?

reminder that this is the peak of the chink novels

>>19012481
fpbp
>>19012498
chinkshitters btfo

>>19012484
>Are the other books in the series worth reading
No
>or do they suck?
Yes

>>19012514
Bogus. What other Clarke books are worth reading? I've already read 2001, 2010, and Childhood's End. I did not care for 2010.

I am looking for a dark fantasy series with intense battles, pitch black lore, highly intellectual themes that dovetail into real world philosophy, poignant character psychology, and just a hint of Lovecraftian horror. Is there anything out there like this?

I hate anime so much its unreal

There was a smile on his face, but not a human one, as he emerged from the gravewomb of the library's shadowkissed interior. The musculature of his visage slid like moist vaginal folds across the phallus head of his skull, just as it had been conditioned to do. Eyes that saw but did not see. A mind, predatory in its resting malice, that did not think but merely calculated.
"If I just stimulate this part of your brain" he said, a voice both sonorous and ragged, "You would rape your own mother and think it was your own decision to do so".
Slowly he retreated back to the dark, light's caress leaving his face, his body, and finally the hard arch of his cock pressed high against his belly.

>>19012498
this is about on par with most western fantasy i've looked at. sanderson. fucking prince of thorns or name of the wind, unreadable. the latter in particular has 4.5 stars on goodreads, probably the biggest indictment of that website i can think of

>>19012602
at least those writers don't have blatant grammatical mistakes in their works. having been translated from chink to human is a bad excuse

>>19012602
this

>>19012549
facile imitation of bakker's style but yeah this casual shitpost literally mogs all of the """authors""" the other anon mentioned by leaps and bounds. such is the great decline of western fantasy. "the eye of argon" is a masterpiece compared to the current crop of genreschlock.

say what you want about bakker but at least he valiantly defies the homogenization and dumbing down of genre prose.

>>19012602
One of the big issues with Goodreads scores is that most people only read books they think they’ll like. Most of /sffg/ is going to read one Chinesefi book at most. The people who like Chinesefi make up the vast majority of the people reading it and rating it. It’s the same with YA books. If a random sample of all Goodreads users or Goodreads sci-fi fans had to read and rate a Chinesefi book the scores would probably be terrible.

>>19012670
They also blatantly rate based on authors or political leaning of the work. Shit, who can forget award nominations where there are more scores given out to a specific book than people have READ it on the site.

>>19012474

Can anyone recommend me some "Literary" inclined Fantasy books? I don't really like the mainstream Sandersoy and Malazan huge-ass world-building and complex magic systems shit. I wanna read Fantasy books in the vein of Tolkien, Mervyn Peake, Wolfe and Le Guin.

Also no Rothfuss and R. Jordan, please.

>>19012614
yeah bakker stands head and shoulders above the competition. his style is memeable but that's in service of it rather than a critique i think
>>19012670
that's true, i guess it's as flawed as the people who use it. you'd think people would want to be a bit more discerning about the stuff they read, though

>>19012728

>>19012602
It's on par with YA shit I dropped after a couple pages. Even things that are shat on by everyone here like Sanderson cannot be compared to how dogshit that gook novels are. I want to point out that the screencapped text is some of the best written wuxia I've ever read. That's not a cherry picked bad example, but a cherry picked good one.

Additionally, the plot and characterization are on the same dogshit level as the writing itself, so it's not like you can enjoy it if you focus on other things.

>abloo bloo The worst western trash is no better than the best chinese web novels
Who in their right mind would read trash when theres hundreds of middling and dozens of great books to read?

>>19012670
It's a problem with imdb as well, but with experience you can tell how good a movie actually is, or whether it's just hyped by people who are into that niche. Goodreads has a problem with score compression, the differences between actually good and merely pandering are tiny. There's alwaso far more people who drop a book they don't like and not rate it, vs people who drop a movie and then not rate it, because movies are only like 90min and you're often watching them with friends.

>>19012728
>Gormenghast
>Although the first two installments do not contain any overtly fantastical elements, Gormenghast is almost unanimously categorised as fantasy because of the atmosphere and pseudo-medieval setting.
What?

>>19012775
Read it and you'll understand

>>19012614
This doesn't even sound like Bakker, I don't remember him using hokey faux-anachronistic fantasy terms like "shadowkissed" or "visage", nor is he known for overwrought nabokovian stylisms. If you want to emulate Bakker you should use short descriptive sentences. Three or for words. Idle desriptions of fleeting moments. Pillars of light. And.

Reddit spacing.

The shortest path.

>>19012773
>There's alwaso far more people who drop a book they don't like and not rate it, vs people who drop a movie and then not rate it, because movies are only like 90min and you're often watching them with friends.
I don't know why none of these book sites have Dropped category. It's something that matters more than the potential score reader assigns to a book.

>>19012775
What do you not get? It's fantasy but there's no dragons, goblins, and world-ending magic

>>19012773
Forgive my typing, I just woke up and am still braindead.

>>19012474
>mfw these booktubers who read 10+ books each month
How? Do they just spend every waking moment reading? I mean, it seems be contemporary garbage written for the 8th grade reading level, but still.

>>19012808
They're mostly young women majoring in liberal shit, reading is their only personality. Plus these books are usually 250-300 pages tops. I once read entire Harry Potter novel in a day as a kid.

>>19012728
Give TH White’s The Once and Future King a read.

>>19012808
If you read 20 hours a week you should easily be able to read 10 YA books a month.

>>19012808
They don't read particularly lengthy or difficult books. Go ahead and order 10 best selling YA fiction books and give yourself a month and 3 hours a day. You will surprise yourself how fast you can put away trash like that.

>>19012808
they all basically read the same books so I'm convinced they speed read and skim through them. not to mention they probably remember precisely jack shit after a month. if you don't retain anything you're just wasting time reading.

>>19012823
already read that one, was very enjoyable

>>19012728
Hold the fuck up i thought the skylands were only visible at night

>>19012903
Dude!

>>19012918
Wicked sad

Is anyone reading Abercrombies wisdom of crowds? Is it any good? I was let down by the first two books so not sure if this one is worth reading

>>19012498
It's not though is it.
At least put some effort into your bait and call mao ni shit

>>19013132
I mean who knows honestly. Even if it's only half as bad as that passage it's not worth reading

>>19012808
If you don't play vidya it's pretty easy to read a lot
I've read way less this year because I spent like 5 months reading chess books which I didn't log but I could hit 80 books a year before that with months off.

>>19013173
>>19012808
Oh and also I can't remember who but I read something once where some author talked about what they read and it was like 5 books a month

>>19012808
The autist who runs our goodreads page/reading group has already read 93 books this year

with only 3 hours a day you should be able to read 2 600 page books or 4 300 page books per week, for a total of 100 to 200 books a year. if you have more time per day to read, because you are an unemployed neet for instance, you could easily manage 500 or more books a year.

>>19013255
>only 3 hours a day
Motherfucker, I have a job and something resembling life. I read three hours a week if I'm lucky.

>>19013269
clearly you don't have a life if you have no free time at all

>>19011908
>Once again, I appreciate your contribution to this general.
Thanks.

>>19011951
>Seems like a waste to have considering how many anons are always so intent on derailing this threads.
I don't mind waste overly much. They also go out to a couple 100 accounts on Goodreads in the /sffg/ group. Most of the previous write-ups, the sff related ones anyway, can be read here.
>>/lit/?task=search2&search_tripcode=SFFG.n1h7M
There may be differences between the GR version and the 4chan over time if I make any revisions. Looks like I forgot to put an image for a lot more of them I remembered or else something went wrong.

>>19012970
>Is anyone reading Abercrombies wisdom of crowds?
Yes, that's the next group read. Should be a few people, but it's important to keep expectations low. When the first book was published there were some who were quite vocal about disliking it. I've still enjoyed them.

>>19013189
> The autist who runs our goodreads page/reading group
Yes, I am the founder of the GR group and I post write-ups about books using the SFFG tripcode in this thread. I'm also the owner of the charts mega in the OP, though I've been neglecting it somewhat. I also posted the shortened form of the archive link and the /t/ link a few times before it was added to in the OP. I created the threads for an extended duration last year. However, I don't run the reading group. The discord server owner does that.

>read 93 books this year
That's what GR says anyway, but that doesn't mean they are all novels. My average page count says 343 at the moment, but there are quite a few that are shorter than novel length.

>>19012670
>only read books they think they’ll like.
That's only reasonable isn't it?

>If a random sample of all Goodreads users...the scores would probably be terrible
This goes for basically anything though.

>>19012711
>They also blatantly rate based on authors or political leaning of the work.
This isn't restricted to single type of person.

>>19012867
>if you don't retain anything you're just wasting time reading.
Do you feel the same way about the posts here, or social media in general?

>>19012808
>>19012822
>>19012832
>>19012838
>>19012867
>>19013173
>>19013178
>>19013255
>>19013255
>>19013269
Sometimes I'll read a novel a day for multiple days in a row. It does take up a considerable portion of the day though. I welcome all derision and attacks in general.

>>19012798
>>19012773
>there's always far more people who drop a book they don't like and not rate it
>I don't know why none of these book sites have Dropped category. It's something that matters more than the potential score reader assigns to a book.
Indeed, I agree. It's something I've mentioned more than a few times here and in the group. Some people make similar things for their personal accounts, but it would be nice if were a default feature and people bothered to use it.

The character limit for a post has now been reached. May as well sometimes just do so.

>>19012909
I really, really like the cover art on Litany of the Long Sun by this guy
Even looked into the artist, if he had done other stuff, if the covers were available in higher resolution, etc
Didn't find much, predates the internet? Can't recall

But yeah, I was also under the impressions that the skylands were not visible clearly like that, during day
I think there are a bunch of accuracy errors in them, still pretty spot-on for cover art

I've also been thinking about, isn't slapping art like that on the cover a massive spoiler?
I was fortunate enough to go into these books blind, the actual nature of the Whorl slowly coming together is some real special experience, that I do recall
But maybe I'm not remembering how many clues regarding the artifice of their world was dropped early? Still, I wouldn't want to be hinted at even the shape of it

>READ AND FIND OUT

>>19013461
>Do you feel the same way about the posts here, or social media in general?
Social media absolutely, but this here can be actual discourse on the subject. Someone who reads and doesn't retain anything is just passing time when you look at it. At least write a review at the end or something so you can look back on it.

>>19013995
>Someone who reads and doesn't retain anything is just passing time when you look at it.
And? What's the problem with that?

>>19013995
What do you think about people who say "I wish I didn't remember anything about so I could experience it all over again." This seem to be wish against retainment.

I forget most stuff I read and it isn't a reading speed thing, just how my memory works.
If I start rereading/begin a sequel most of it comes back to me pretty quickly

>>19012481
The face that saved /sffg/

>>19012481
Best fantasy writer of all time.

>>19012808
I read 4 Poul Anderson novels in 3 days. If something grips you, you don't put that down.

>>19014270
I know we're memeing but that's still Peakr.

>>19014330
He's right, though.

>>19012761

Y’know what. I understand that this series is as shilled and memed to death in this board, but fuck it, I’m going to be read it and become a Bakkerchad.

>>19014503
About time!

>>19014149
there are better ways to pass that time than to read, I guess

>>19014215
I can't reread anything because of this, because even if I've completely forgotten a book after I read the first page I can remember the whole thing and lose the drive to read it again.

>>19012542

Mieville's bas-lag

>>19012542
Fencer by KJ Parker

>>19014503
based

Bakkerchads just finished battle of Shigek and didn't get what the fuck happened at all. How the fuck did Fanim lose? Didn't they have some untold legions hidden or some shit? One moment they were raping in all directions and burning down Inrithi camps, and then Gotian charged with his knights and turned tables in one paragraph. And Skauras an heroed. Wat.

>>19015366
>One moment they were raping in all directions and burning down Inrithi camps

>>19015366
he can't write battles

>>19015422
Holy cope. Your seething is fucking delicious.

>>19015366
You mean on the plains of mengedda or at anwurat? One was a tactical strike that stalled out and one got fucked because Kellhus stopped a Calvary charge all by himself

>>19015476
Anwurat. You can be serious about Kellhus, I get that he's stronk enough to 1v50 or something but THAT was the decisive factor?!

Fuck Delays
Fuck Lies
Fuck Pay Walls
Fuck Pay Pigs
Fuck No Releases
Fuck E William Brown

>>19015502
Which authors do you like, other than that one?

>>19015422
He actually writes the best battles in fantasy, hands down

>>19015496
Him keeping the command standard up rallied the men so they didn’t break from the second charge. I don’t have my copy in front of me so there’s probably more to it, but that was pretty important.

>>19015422
No, that would be Sanderson. Unironically.

>>19015555
Same issue desu they both write big powerful superhero characters pretty well but don't really succeed in weaving them into a larger scale conflict.
It's why Sanderson's best battle I've read is the one where they're just desperately carrying the bridges forward. No superpowers yet so the pov isn't above or outside of the central action.

>>19015555
>>19015568
Sanderson can't write politics for shit.

Threadly reminder that ASOIAF takes place inside a pocket dimension of the Lovecraft universe and is permanently caught in a malevolent loop of temporal recursion. Tyrion is the time-travelling son of Dany and Drogo and thus a trueborn Targaryen heir to the Iron Throne.

>>19015496
>>19015476
It was the scarlet spires, did you not read the chapter?

>>19015690
Always thought it would be funny to suddenly reveal that your epic fantasy is a different genre after like 6 books.

>>19015708
'Far as I can tell, a giga-tinfoil-twist like that would be the only way George can save the series and make it feel fresh again, at this point.

In my headcanon, the Nonmen have pointy ears, and no one can convince me otherwise.

>>19015502
>Fuck Delays
>Fuck Lies
>Fuck Pay Walls
>Fuck Pay Pigs
>Fuck No Releases
>Fuck E William Brown

>>19015840
In my headcanon, the Inchoroi have BBCs, and no one can convince me otherwise.

>>19016059
Not my problem.

>>19016059
That’s canon though.

>>19015840
Who is the hulking figure here? The Consult Cocoons?

>>19016184
yeah but only true fans know, its canon Black Seed lore.

>>19012481
He is alright-you can tell he smokes a lot of pot because his writing isn’t as focused as it should be.

>>19012728
The last unicorn

>>19016360
I think thats supposed to be Cet'ingira
Wish there was some good art of him

>>19016539
That's the guy with the suit, no?

>>19012728
Oh yeah forgot I never replied to this

John Crowley, M. John Harrison, Catherine Webb, Brian Catling, Michael Swanwick
Crowley's possibly the best living American writer regardless of genre

>>19016556
Of human faces? Yep.

What an absolute chad.

>>19016571
>>19012728
Guy Gavriel Kay too

>>19016579
>those shoes
>those jeans
Autism kino

>>19016610
You sound jelly.

>>19016610
Only the King could pull those off

>>19016571
>Catherine Webb

Can’t believe she looks like that and is still a good writer

>>19016579
this is unironically peak /fa/

>>19012728
Kurt Vonnegut

>>19012802
Anon, do not worn out your fingers typing. Most likely is a fa/tg/uy and the sole notion of fantasy without dragons, humanoids and world terminated magic may cause him to suffer a BSoD.

>>19012474
>Book Club
sep 15: wisdom of crowds https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40701780-the-wisdom-of-crowds
sep 26: the scar https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68497.The_Scar

You really shouldn't judge a book by its cover because I never would have bothered reading pic related based on that crappy (though accurate) art if I hadn't read a review from a mostly trusted source first. Some really good S&S tales here so far with some nice prose that doesn't come across like the author is trying to impress you (though he seems obsessed with the word "spiral" since it shows up in every story so far).

>>19017781
>You really shouldn't judge a book by its cover
There are definitely times when you should. Otherwise you could accidentally read Larry the Cable Guy's biography or a romance novel.

>>19017234
>the-wisdom-of-crowds
Still working my way through Abercrombie's books, turns out I really like them a lot
To be honest, I expected them to be trash, you know.. because they are popular, and anything popular is always trash. Not in this case.

Cripple-man finding out he had 1 friend that came to see him, but was turned away without his knowledge, really tugged at my heartstrings
My favorite twist? Something as simple as: The wizard being revealed to be more ruthless than I initially expected.

Bakkerfags have really runnoft a lot of anons from this general haven't they.

Kneel.

>>19018871
no shit, there have been on average less posters in the past four generals than there were on average six months ago; this general is a shell of its former self

>>19018138
The standalones are pretty good too, my favorite being Red Country.

>>19018138
>(((wizards)))
First Law is pretty solid. Not super serious work, but it has its moments.

>>19012535
https://bookzone.boyslife.org/arthur-c-clarke/

What was the last scifi book I finished? Ah yes, Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen. Thus I finished the entire Vorkosigan Saga. If anyone is interested in reading this, know that it starts off with boring writer-as-character in cliched situation, which only establishes the universe and not much else.

Then with Falling Free we get something interesting, and at the end we're left wanting but never get payoff as to what a race of people designed to live in zero G is actually like. They serve as a backdrop for some later stories but that's it.

Speaking of which, the Vorkosigan series, when it actually begins, starts off pretty actiony, but by about a half to two thirds through it's just slice of life really. Cool setting overall, but not for everyone.

So Why did I FINISH it?

It was good. Middling, and good, and interesting. I'd recommend.

>>19019202
The people, they are like cattle

What fantasy book embodies this image?

>>19018871
Not my problem.

>>19016785
What fantasy did he write? Didn’t he do Sci Fi?

>>19018898
Looks like thanos.

Oh fuck I just realised this thread is still up.
Anyways, my 60 year old colleague gave me a bunch of books by this author:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Semyonova
Since she knew her personally, and I'm not sure what to make of it. I'm new to this genre, so, whadya peepo think?

>>19020045
Her boomer love of her Slavic culture mixed with her Boomer liberalism is legit endearing to me.

Any sci-fi that resembles this?

>>19020341
Matrix was based on PKD's Ubik

It was posted here once but I'm looking for a fantasy series where there are roving barbarians who are incredibly misogynistic, taking female BDSM sex slaves basically. What was it called again?

>>19020411

>>19020182
madame Ljiljana is one of the most kind people I've ever met, in her defense

>>19018138
why are you pretending not to know their names after reading 3 books?

>>19020411
Gor, or >>19020443

>>19018871
They've become immune to anime images as well.

>>19018871
It's not the specific author they've picked, it's the spam and complete refusal to discuss anything else without shitting on it.
Hell besides like 2 lore questions I barely ever even see Bakker discussed, it's just people spamming the same shit every thread. They might not even be fans and have just picked one author to shit up the thread with

>>19015366
I think a crucial cavalry charge stumbled into a bunch of Schoolmen without support or Chorae and got nuked. From there the whole thing unravelled.

>The Grandees of Eumarna, meanwhile, stormed through the winding alleys and long avenues of the Inrithi encampment, setting tent and pavilion alight, cutting down priests, dragging screaming wives to the ground and violating them.
[other shit]
>Then glittering lights filled the eastern sky. Cinganjehoi’s glorious horsemen had blundered upon the Scarlet Spires … And catastrophe.

>Those who survived the Schoolmen’s initial assault fled in their thousands, most along the broad beaches along the Meneanor, where they were caught by Grandmaster Gotian, Earl Cerjulla, and Earl Athjeäri, leading the Holy War’s reserves. Some nine thousand Inrithi knights descended upon them, hacking them to the sand, driving them back into the crashing surf. Very few escaped.

Basically their 'knights' got blasted because the overextended, then the Holy War's more powerful/armoured knights rode around going buckwild on the already engaged Fanim army.

>>19020887
Akshually I read a bit further and Eleazaras laments that they lost six sorcerers to Kianine bowmen, plus Achamian killed two more, completely nullifying their victory at Mengedda

>>19012542
The Black Company

>>19020950
Yeah, but that cav charge didn't have any with them (or if it did there wasn't enough), which is why they got yeeted.

The Fanim strategy was trading men to bleed the Holy War of its sorcerers before committing all of theirs to crush them in one decisive battle. However they did not realise that Kellhus existed and was becoming OP as fuck given that in this setting smorts=magical strength.

>>19020555
So people that have forgotten the particular names, or are unfamiliar with the books, still can get the gist of my post
I didn't realize this would be controversial

Why didn't Kellhus just take a ship across the sea to Shimeh? There was even mention somewhere at the beginning that Fanim permit peaceful Inrithi pilgrims to visit it. Seems like shortest path to me.

>>19021122
How the fuck do you Expect him to destroy his father if he simply went on a ship to Shimeh?

>>19021122
retard

>>19021205
Walk up to him and shank him
Just how he did in the story

>>19021223
You're assuming that Kellhus was aware of his father's condition.

Do you listen to your genre fiction or do you stick to reading ?
also are there any genre podcasts that's worth the listen ?

>>19021022
>However they did not realise that Kellhus existed and was becoming OP as fuck given that in this setting smorts=magical strength.

Unless you join the cishaurim that is.

>>19021546
i tried listening to the Prancing Pony podcast while re-reading the Silmarillion, they dive pretty deep into it, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

>>19021546
No
I have to go on long walks to fit in time for the 2 podcasts I listen to as it is. Can't add more

>>19017781
Finished this last night. The quality peters out pretty badly in the last few stories; they're not terrible, but definitely not as good as the first 4 or 5 stories.

>>19016571
>Crowley's possibly the best living American writer regardless of genre
is he as good as Pynchon or McCarthy? Because both of them are still alive

>>19021765
Yes

Are Bakker's books actually good?

>>19021822
they are. well written and a neat take on fantasy. pretty dark though, if that's not your thing

>>19021888
Where should i start with his work?

New Disciple novel when, Bakker???

>>19021923
The Darkness That Comes Before is a good start although i'd understand feeling put off by committing to a series of long books. Neuropath is like a condensed version of the themes of his fantasy series and put into a brief contemporary scifi thriller. it's a lot more sloppy but maybe the brevity of it would be more enticing. i'd recommend Darkness That Comes Before though

>>19021971
I like far longer series so 3 books is no problem for me as long as they are good. Will give them a try, thanks.

>>19021923
The Darkness That Comes Before,
which is the first book out of 3, in his Prince Of Nothing series

Book 4 to 7 follows in The Aspect-Emperor -series. Second Apocalypse -series, is being used to encompass all the seven books.
it's pretty straight forward.

If you hate book one, because of in which way the story is told, style, themes or such. Stop reading, it's not going to change.
I you dislike it because it's "boring" (though I have no idea how people could end up thinking this), consider to keep going to the end of book 3, it ramps up

If you liked book 1-3, consider reading the "separate" story that goes on in 4-7
If you dislike the later part of the series for being overly repetitive and badly in need of an editor, you are absolutely correct!
The sheer drudgery of The Slog, and the decent into depth of the Nonmen's mountain. The same imagery being invoked again, and again to describe the same things.
Nothing sort of nauseating.

>>19022066
Could he not afford an editor? I don't actively follow what's happening in the scene of fantasy/scifi literature. It seems that he has only recently gained a following here.

>>19022116
There was some personal drama between him and his publisher towards the end of the series

>>19022145
It wasn't drama, the publisher didn't care about him because he had no sales

>>19022066
the last two books are the best in the series you mong
>ishterebinth
probably the best sequence bakker ever wrote

>>19022066
>The same imagery being invoked again, and again to describe the same things
It's so bad.
The imagery itself is great, I initially love the words Bakker chose to basically describe Kellhus relationship to regular humans, how he's the ground, etc.
The White-luck Warrior's PoV's where time is atemporal due to his blessing of Unerring Grace, he's repeatedly doing the same thing, but he's already done it. <- Cool stuff
Concept of darkness that came before itself, though this is a greater focus in the first 3 books, where there is far less of this repetition problem

But there is great overuse of the same devices. Which would be less bad if the story called for it. But it's just page filler, to dress the stage.
It should not be more of the same, even if it describe the same things. Use new words, or cut it shorter. Fuck you Bakker! You already describe the mechanics of this earlier in every past books, 20 times over.
If it doesn't add anything, it doesn't add anything.

>>19022176
I have a face, it's another person's metal face
CLACK CLACK CLACK
It was my face, but not my face..
CLACK CLACK

>>19022266
you’re actually retarded

>>19022287
well i have autism but i am not the person you are replying to

*blacks out in a violent rage*
*wakes up*
"Why is there shit on my dick?"

If Kellhus was so smart, why didn't he invent guns?

>>19022324
he invented mind guns

>>19022324
Who the fuck needs guns when you can be a fucking one man army teleporting around and blasting shit with sorcery like it's a fucking anime. Besides, he needed doing things fast and you can't supply insanely huge army with guns that will be effective in only 20 years.

>>19022324
There was a tiny bit of that in the 3rd book, Kellhus having suggested the design of a siege-tower used in the assault on Shimeh
I can only assume this was an angel that Bakker didn't want to pursue. Leave it to Isekai Anime
There was some thing in the later books that didn't make sense to me. Certain mathematicians and accountants having been raised to great heights because their methods was necessary to deal with the logistics of a never before seen size of army, keeping the empire running, etc
While I understand that Kellhus can hardy personally deal with every bureaucratic detail, it seemed like he endorsed new systems, that was novel to him.
I just find it strange anything mental, such as the optimization of supply lines would escape Kellhu, but occur to some pencil pushers

I nearly picked up the first Dresden Files book today. I was so close, I was even reading the blurb on the back. As soon as I saw it was set in Chicago I put it back. Same as the blurb I read about a book where heroes from "our world" are brought over to the fantasy world to save it. Keep the real world out of sff for fuck's sake.

>>19022503
The whole point of the second series is to show you that kellhus is fallible.

>>19022503
Would it not be better to have your loyal drones feel like they came up with a plan that even the great Kellhus would approve of, and then loyally and diligently implement 'their' plan?

>>19022324
>>19022468
Guns are also WORSE against sranc, unless we're talking machine guns. The fuckers dont have armor, just lob arrows into the oncoming horde as fast as you can.

>>19022551
That is a very plausible interpretation of those events

>>19022503
Probably more efficient to dedicate his time to wrangling the Schoolmen
limited time, resources and all that

>>19022512
I totally agree. It's such gigantic turn-off.
Even with SciFi, that is set in the future of *our* world. Please, please, keep references to the past fucking vague

>>19022512
I will never read fantasy set in real world. If the blurb on the back says Paris, London or New York I stop reading there

I LIKE wheel of time my friends

>>19022968
Cool. Apart from autists here, no one will get mad at you for it.

>>19022968
You are free to like it friend but dont ever pretend that it isnt trash

>did someone say Bakker? I HECKIN love Bakker!!

>>19023084
It has its trashy parts but in the end, i think it is a fine piece of high fantasy.
I am drunk and i want to FUCK Moiraine.s
Have a good friday night bros

>>19022968
same
i have read the 14 books twice, even the faile kidnapped part

>>19022968
>*smooths skirt*

>>19023431
>mfw 0.006% of the words in a series describes characters repeating a physical movement over the course of several years.

Listen to this, Anonymous, I'll read it to you:
>Charlotte Perkins Gilman was an accomplished feminist short story writer best known for "The Yellow Wallpaper". Among her numerous short stories is "The Giant Wistaria", written in 1891 and published in New England Magazine. In one of the more gothic tales in the collection, a wealthy young couple and their friends rent a rustic manor excited by the prospect of it being haunted. Gilman's work is known for its feminist themes such as female entrapment and patriarchal control as well as featuring women at the centre of her stories. The history of the flowery house is discovered to be filled with scandal, shame and tragedy which is revealed to the guests as they all experience the same vivid dream.
>Gilman adds her own unique stamp onto the genre by implementing distinctly feminist and gothic themes such as patriarchal control and uses the domestic setting of the house for her tale. Temporality is also a key theme within the story as the narrative moves from centuries past to the present day where Gilman effectively juxtaposes past tragedy with modern frivolousness.
Ignoring that this reads like the editor is a high school student tasked with writing an introduction to a story they don't care about, and ignoring that it gives way too much away about a short horror story, only because the introductions to prior stories have been far worse for this, why does everything have to be about women? I'm trying to read an anthology of Victorians writing about SPOOKY FUCKING PLANTS
FUCK OFF WOMEN

>>19023625
You can't seriously be reeing over gothic literature having subtext

Friend burger, i am an autist. You are a friend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6zhuFAoC6Y
Good Friday Night.

What books do you think writers of Fallout (1&2, video games) were inspired by?

anything like the people of sand and slag but longer?

>>19023730
I am legend. That’s it. No other books.

>>19023707
Yes I can.

>>19023730
Tim Cain's answered this a bunch so you can just look it up
It's like Mad Max/A Boy and his Dog/Strangelove/Canticle/The Postman/The Stand/The Road/Swan Song iirc
You gotta remember that they were mostly just being "inspired" by the Wasteland game that already existed but making it funny tho

Is pic related good? I want to read the whole trilogy before I start playing Betrayal at Krondor.

>>19023625
I always skip the intros in any book I read, I don't know why they even put them in, who the fuck cares about some other dudes interpretation of a book I haven't even read yet?

>>19023730
Technically speaking, one of the biggest inspirations for the original Fallout games was the movie A Boy And His Dog, which was based off a novella of the same name.

>>19023918
good enough but I hated how it handled multi-pov
you're away from one character for ages

>>19022968
Same.
I unironically really liked the big showdowns at the end of most books.
I sometimes listened to Blind Guardian, when shit hit the fan and literally walked around the room reading. It was fun.

>>19012542
Second Apocalypse

I saw a copy of The Darkness that Comes Before (with the kino old style cover) at Half Price Books for $5.95 today, was seriously thinking about picking it up too

>>19023625
>reading shit written by holes
You only have yourself to blame.

It is said in the Silmarillion that Thingol alone mingled with one of the divine race (i.e. the Ainur); of which the blood of the divine people came through Lúthien unto the mortal Númenórean kings. It makes me wonder then the particular case of Ungoliant. She, if considered a Maia, would have bred monsters with Maia blood, like Shelob. Would they retain some powers like shape-shifting (looking at Shadow of War's Stoya Shelob form).

>>19024411
nigga you a nerd

>>19024803
Yes, I am.
And I'm in good company.

Know how to identify the objective quality of a book just by looking at the cover
5/5 tier
>anime cover
4/5 tier
>some ominous icon/object cover
3/5 tier
>just words in the cover
2/5 tier
>western art cover
1/5 tier
>irl ambient photo covers

>>19023771
>The Road
>inspiration for Fallout 1&2

Anyone else get into Lovecraft in phases? I used to hate him, now he’s one of my faves. He grew on me.

>>19025323
I've been that way with Lovecraft and CAS. I'll marathon a bunch of short stories or poems for a a while, and then just get sick of them for months before I can return.

>bakker
Achamian is a fucking cuck, kellhus is a Mary sue or some shit. Only cnaiur is interesting what the fuck sfg

What's the best fantasy novel written in the first-person?

>>19025527
Did you forget about the mother-fucking emperor of Nansur, Ikurei Xerius III?

>>19025624
Book of the New Sun

>>19025527
Akka did nothing wrong

>>19012613
most likely a shit translator who doesn't understand the goal of translation

>>19012498
there is lots of good contemporary chinese lit but none of it is fantasy/scifi and the best of it is anchored in their classics and/or chinese social realism.

Anyone know where I can find a .mobi format versions of some of Michael Crichtons books? Especially Sphere. I don't like audiobooks and it seems like none of his stories aside from Jurassic Park ever got digital releases.

>>19025527
>kellhus is a Mary sue or some shit
literal retard

>>19025882
https://b-ok.global/s/Michael%20Crichton/?e=1&extensions%5B0%5D=mobi
zlibrary is the best website for snatching epubs

Any other slaying the dragon or sorcerer type of literature like Spenser’s The Faerie Queene?

>>19026262
Excellent, thanks. No idea why such a famous author doesn't have most of his bibliography available digitally.

>>19012542
Iconoclasts by Mike Shel

>>19012481
We should meme Krimsonrogue into reviewing second apocalypse

>>19021556
well smarts only matter if you are a gnostic sorceror, it was never implied to mattter for the anagogic schools

>>19022503
kellhus doesnt have time to oversee the logistics for the entire empire

>>19025527
>inhuman sociopathic manipulator
>mary sue

that phrase doesn't just mean "powerful character" fyi.

>>19012474
Tell me your novel ideas. It's not like they're going anywhere, /sffg/...

>>19013132
Why herro, ferrow westerner

>>19025527
He can't be mary sue since he barely even counts as character at least in firs part due to having no ego at all. Mary sue is author's wish fulfillment projection and you can say that only if you consider that this author wants to be a robot.

>>19026940
He clearly has an ego in the first part, the author just claiming otherwise doesn't really work when the writing reveals it to be untrue

>>19026948
And what exactly were expressions of his ego? Was there even any place for them when basically every single thing he did was single-minded pursuit of first whatever he was told to do by Ishual and then plan to oppose consult?

Finished this today, really enjoyed it. Trying to decide whether to start the second book right away or to read something in between. What'd you anons think of it?

I don't get it. A statue on an alien planet of a human mass murderer? A 7-headed dragon? What does it all have to do with each other?

>>19027366
it's poorly translated and insanely thinly characterized. couldn't get through half of it before getting bored which is a bit unfortunate because it feels like that's when stuff started to get going. names were pretty confusing too

Guys, the Worm Ouroboros almost filtered me and went straight into Darkness That Comes Before right after.

I don't think I can handle this anymore. I hate dropping anything but why does he need 600 pages (and a few sequels) to paint a pessimistic world?
Ligotti does it in a lot less (although it often feels like his works are triple the size they really are)

Bakker doesn't have particularly great prose either. At least it's not as incredibly dense as Ouroboros or even Ligotti.
I can see the themes, I can appreciate them. But most fantasy authors really need an editor that can cut it up.

>>19027460
Darkness picks up the pace in second half (when Kellhus shows up again), stick with it

>>19016571
> Crowley
What would you describe as his saddest works?

> Harrison
Viriconium has been on my to read list since a while. Maybe I'll push it up a bunch of places.

> Webb
What would be her best entry point?


>Swanwick
Yea, Iron Dragon's Daughter is a classic.
Stations of the Tide, Vacuum Flowers and Jack Faust are really up there for me as well.
Dragons of Babel was maybe a little too YA for me, but did some really out of the ordinary things too.

>>19027459
how is it poorly translated?

>>19027599
even as an ESL I can see the asian writing permeate the text. maybe it's because I'm rudimentary familiar with japanese sentence structure but it reads like someone (very) literally translated a japanese game

>>19026262
>zlibrary is the best website for snatching epubs
They can fuck off with their daily download limits, though.

fuck you weedfaggot you are not smart

>>19027459
I read the translators note and he seemed to be aiming for that style, and he even admits he may have failed in providing a decent translation.
The characters are very thin, Wang (the main guy) doesn't even spare a thought for his wife and child throughout the whole book - they don't even get a name... but it's hard sci-fi so I'm willing to overlook that, most hard sci-fi has thin characters, just look at Foundation.
You really missed out stopping where you did, the beginning is certainly a slog, but it really picks up in the second half and it starts throwing massive sci-fi ideas at you every few pages. This was my second attempt at reading it, and I'm glad I finished it this time. It was good enough that I'm going to at least read the next one.
The names were confusing but I read it quickly so I didn't have much trouble there.

>>19027366
Second book was good.
Third book was eh.

>>19027389
Nothing. Ellison was a pretentious druggie.

>>19027588
>What would be her best entry point?
Harry August is their breakout work. Could call it scifi or fantasy I guess since it's about reliving your life

>>19027715
The old “I’m a retard on purpose defense”, classic.

Is there any really good fantasy set in Asia or Africa?

>>19022968
It took me 3 years to get to book 14, the fact I kept coming back to it suggests that it's good, even though I think it's fucking shit.
Fuck Elayne and Egwene though.

>>19028013
would a 30 y/o male who typically loathes YA fantasy enjoy it reading the first book at least?

>>19028073
Probably not.

>>19012542
The manuscript I'm 200pages into

>>19028109
make sure to shill here when you finish it

>I will never be able to read the chronicles of Amber for the first time again

sandershits will defend this

>>19028475
shartplate

>>19028475
>this is what publishers and mainstream audiences want

>>19024913
True facts, but I'm still not sure about Amano-san's decision to cast different FF6 characters as Severian.

>>19028898
that's some good covers

>>19028475
This shit reads like a green text straight from this site.

There’s a handful of manga I really and truly love, which are I guess fantasy, but I really have no interest in fantasy novels whatsoever. Do you have any recommendations that can change my mind and get me to appreciate fantasy writing more?

>>19029002
You’re giving Sanderson to much credit.

>>19029170
Start with something short like The Quest of Iranon by HP Lovecraft. If you like that, read the rest of his dream cycle stories, then read Dunsany's books.

>>19029248
Thanks, but I read a bunch of Lovecraft and Tolkien especially when I was younger, so I think that’s not quite what I’m looking for. I suppose I should’ve mentioned that. Sorry.

>>19029170
R Scott Bakker - The Darkness That Comes Before (Second Apocalypse #1)

Bayaz did literally nothing wrong, /sffg/.

>>19029312
Assuming he counts Berserk among his favorites which is likely, this is, ironically, a good recommendation.

>>19029343
I don’t like Berserk.

are any of the SF awards not pozzed

>>19029796
What manga do you like, then?

>>19029903
I’m not even sure I want to divulge because I don’t want this to turn into what is or isn’t good manga. I’m really just interested in the relationship of fantasy between manga and fantasy novels and whatever’s in-between (light novels, I guess).

I just think manga does fantasy so much better. Although I don’t know why, I’m sure I cant be the only person who thinks this.

>>19029916
Based on what you've said, it seems Sanderson would suit your "tastes"... Read Mistborn.

>>19029318
Why didn't ask onlookers to back away from the prototype canon?

>>19029796
Based. I love Bakker and mange is for manchildren weebs.

>>19029916
Have you read Jack Vance's Dying Earth? Conan the Barbarian? Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? I'm not sure what else to recommend you if you're not going to say what you're into.

>>19020341
Downloading martial training and technical knowledge directly into your brain was ripped straight out of The Forever War, but otherwise they don't have too much in common.

>>19029916
the mangas I have read do fantasy like a shitty rpg knockoff, even the ones without the "game mechanics" rely on the same shitty tropes to as the underlining foundation.
Now that is a lot more than most current authors can say for themselves, so you might get the impression that manga "does fantasy better", but that is simply because of the low standards and low quality of works coming out recently. If you compare manga to fantasy done 20-30 years ago there is simply no comparison, even the many Tolkien knockoff that came up, are miles ahead in immersiveness, character developments, character in general as well as whorl building.

>>19027888
Imaro

>>19029938
Wanted to test the AoE if it went wrong. Long term he was just thinking about saving lives.

Always crazy to me how little really good stuff is out there considering how many billions of people exist. Don't get me wrong, there's a ton of good stuff, but if you're remotely picky you can easily run of a genre altogether.

Just got 2 books from the same author, both fairly new. Only breezed through the first book but his writing style is actually fairly good. The books are David Mogo, Godhunter and Son of the Storm by Suyi Davies Okungbowa. He's Nigerian so he already filtered most of you autists.

>>19013704
I think if you're paying attention you'll realise that the Whorl is a tube by the end of the first book

>>19028475
>And honest, she was.
Please stop telling me what to think.

>I shit myself.
Is this GRRM?

>>19029871
No. This goes for all art and most of science.

>>19028475
Sando is very good with regards to World building, but virtually everything else falls short.

>>19031048
This is what I get for looking up advice on YouTube and just assuming a "popular" writer is a good one. Ha ha.

>>19028475
No wonder he gets his books out so fast, I bet he doesn't even do a second draft;

>"And?"
>He peered at her / He squinted at her.
>"Just trying to determine if you're secretly Wit wearing a wig. This seems like something he'd do to me."
>I'm not doing anything to you," she said. "I'm just curious." This was something she'd thought about, perhaps more than it deserved.
Also "Perhaps more than it deserved consideration." Doesn't make any sense grammatically, why is "consideration" just tacked on to the end there?

>>19031078
How many words are his book, usually? Isn't this the same guy that believes people buy e-Book based on word count so they "get their money's worth?"

>>19031048
you're describing Steven Erikson. Sanderson sucks at everything.

>>19028475

>>19028475
>someone has to wipe my doo doo butt for me
>interesting, let's get romantically involved

>>19031078
He probably tacked it on AFTER a revision.

>When writing I play everything back to TTS.
Is this a bad habit? Good? I feel like most modern writers can avoid half of their mistakes if they just did this.

>>19012474
When the fuck will Sanderson release Dawnshard in psychical form

>>19031168
that sounds like a pretty fucking good idea actually. does your TTS simulate normal speech cadence?

>>19031191
There are some good free ones (and a lot of bad ones). If you pay for one, it gets pretty close, but you're not going to get emotion out of it, so you have to take that into account.

>>19031174
>When the fuck will Sanderson release Dawnshard in psychical form

>>19031262
says the bakkertard with his unfinished series

>tfw you're thinking about buying a book that you can't find any reviews for from an author you've never read before
I like to live life on the edge, bros.

So I'm a literal retard who reads purely for entertainment, and after more than a decade I'm starting to have a hard time finding fun shit to read. Being actually autistic, my taste makes no sense. I've had just as good of a time reading Dune as schlock like Undying Mercenaries or the occasional litRPG shit. I'm reading Lost God's right now. Anyone got anything obscure that isn't boring that I can check out?

>>19029916
sanderson will be your thing, he basically writes fantasy action manga

>>19031388
I found the Kovacs books pretty fun. But I'm guessing you've already checked them out.
Speaking of which, what became of book 4?

>>19031516
>Speaking of which, what became of book 4?
Anon, are you high or something? Woken Furies is the last Kovacs novel.

>>19031523
Really? Shit...
Been a long time since I read them, but I remember shit just getting a lot more interesting where Woken Furies left off.

>>19031541
Yeah, Woken Furries is the end of the series, Richard K. Morgan thought about continuing the books after netflix started making an adaptation of it, but he's been silent ever since they cancelled it after season 2.

>>19031312
Well I did it, bros; I bought the book and I instantly regret it. The writer himself says in the Introduction section that these stories are badly written. What the fuck.

>>19031554
>ever since they cancelled it after season 2.
Was it at least a good adaptation? Seems like Netflix loves starting interesting projects and then cancelling them right at they start to gain a following

>>19031571
>The writer himself says in the Introduction section that these stories are badly written
Post a pic

>>19031572
>Was it at least a good adaptation?
Not him, but watch a few clips on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/od3D9LQBdCY

>>19012808
i normally read a book every few days when im not depressed
why is everyone in this thread so toxic? every post is filled with insults now and nobody actually talks about what books theyre reading or what they enjoyed recently.....
im thinking of reading the vorkisgan saga again, its probably my favourite series just for the length and family stuff, but there hasnt been a new book in a while. are there other similar soft sci fi series of similar length? i feel likw ive read most of the big ones now like culture and polity and foundation and commonwealth but i still want to scratch that long form itch.
also if anyone has any books with similar protagonists to murderbot (emotionally) id love to read more stuff like that :)

>>19031579
I feel like I've been trolled.

>>19031599
there have been on average less posters in the past four generals than there were on average six months ago; this general is a shell of its former self

>>19031596
The aesthetics are decent and not super low budget but the camera work is fucking awful. So. Many. Jump. Cuts. The voice work is also weirdly stilted

>>19031629
It is a netflix original, so it ain't going to be perfect.

>>19031615
>103 IPs
Seems pretty healthy to me.

>>19031312
Same. It feels thrilling to buy a book and read it.

>>19031599
>why is everyone in this thread so toxic?
Not everyone. Just a select few autist who have nothing better to do than to shit up this General.

>>19031716
At the very least, the mods are doing their jobs and deleting their posts.

>>19031615
God, what happened in the past six months?

>>19031732
Shitposts and spam.

>>19031605
The fuck is this?

new thread
>>19031765

What are the best/comfiest Golden Age SF short stories?