/lit/ - Literature

Threadly reminder to read The Second Apocalypse by R. Scott Bakker. Start with the Darkness that Comes Before.

Any good gladiator fantasy? I’m legitimately surprised there hasn’t been a market for it. Given that shit series like hunger games and it’s knock-offs are popular.

>>19358320
Spacecops!

>>19358331
Is Bakker ever getting back to writing?

>>19358331
>Start with the first book
as opposed to what?

just finished book of the new sun and I can't decide where to go from here. It was such a well written, dense book and I'm still digesting

suggestions where to go from fans of the series? Should I go for the next installment in the solar cycle? Urth of the new sun? or a palate cleanser before moving on with Long Sun

I have valis by PKD but I'm thinking of doing something less dense if it's not more Wolfe

>>19358363
Urth of the New Sun is direct continuation to Book of the New Sun and the story doesn't properly wrap up without it, so absolutely read Urth.

>>19358360
Reading a better series.

>>19358334
>lensman
I've only read Triplanetary. Decent novel, but the protagonist was kind of a Gary Stu as it tended to be the case back in the day.

>>19358360
crash space, disciple of the dog etc

>>19358360
>>Start with the first book
>as opposed to what?
The darkness that comes before

>>19358331
you're becoming like the harry potter girls who only have one book to reference
>>19358333
Midnight Falcon by Gemmell, Twelve Kings in Sharakhai is gladiator protag but it doesn't focus on ring fighting.
There really isn't a lot probably because it's hard to tie to overall plots, even in scifi arena fighting plots always end in either sabotage or some reason to lose the final fight because telling a story of someone straight up winning a load isn't interesting

>sequel to the sabriel/abhorsen series just came out
really not sure if I want to return to YA I read like 15 years ago even if it was really good

is there any fantasy book with the following elements?
>a white male protagonist
>no social justice bullshit
>no bullshit romance
>a lot of killing and brutal fights
>not white/dark-good/evil-bullshit

>>19358674
yes

>>19358674
prince of nothing

>>19358603
>because telling a story of someone straight up winning a load isn't interesting
Not him, but that’s wrong. I wouldn’t mind reading a fantasy story of a gladiator rising to the top in the arena.

>>19358674
is any romance bullshit romance or are some romances acceptable?
if you can stomach a bit of romance, the witcher and codex alera will work for you.
prince of nothing which that anon suggested fits your bill perfectly but it's incredibly cringe. it's more cringe than a hamfisted romance. i'm someone who never drops books but i dropped that one within 50 pages because it read like shadow the hedgehog.

>>19358738
>prince of nothing which that anon suggested fits your bill perfectly but it's incredibly cringe. it's more cringe than a hamfisted romance. i'm someone who never drops books but i dropped that one within 50 pages because it read like shadow the hedgehog.
wait ignore this, i had it wrong. i was thinking of the broken empire.
yeah prince of nothing is good, but it's sadly unfinished and will never be. bakker shill will tell you it's finished but it's really not.

>>19358686
ok
how do i find that?
>>19358690
>>19358738
ok i will check it out.
thank you
>codex alera
read that also
>>19358751
>broken empire
yeah read that also
first book was amazing but the compunctions later on ruined it for me

>>19358674
Malice by John Gwynne.

>>19358690
Prince of Nothing is full of SJW shit: gay sex, cuckery, race mixing etc.

>>19358770
did you like codex alera? most people here shit on it and to be honest it's with good reason but i can't help but find it a fun and charming read

>>19358363
all 4 dying earth books by jack vance

>>19358803
i read all the books so you can say i enjoyed
but even so the plot with the bad evil as a kind of "daughter" is retarded
>>19358772
thank you

>"NOOO, YOU CAN'T DISLIKE BOOK!"
>"I BET YOU DIDN'T EVEN READ IT"

>>19358674

>>19358772
Malice is dogshit. Don't listen do this guy.

>>19358774
I finished the Prince of Nothing yesterday and none of that is true.
Why do you intentionally shit up the thread and keep spamming lies? I'm genuinely curious.

>>19358893
He got fileted by Bakker.

Many such cases.

>>19358882
Its an excellent book and fits the description he mentioned pefectly as it hasnt good any SJW crap, grey flawed characters and the hero is a blonde white male. There isnt a single strong woman or non-white human character in the book.
If you want books with sex, minorities and strong females go read books by GRRM or Sanderson, Malice isnt for you.

Sanderson is unironically better than Gwynne.

>>19358879
great
now i have to jerk off and shower afterwards
i just wanted to read a book in peace

>>19358913

>>19358363
definitely read Urth. Then cleanse your palate with something simpler (The Fractal Prince).

Then read The Long Sun books. Take a break, then The Short Sun.

I'm in the middle of In Green's Jungles and it is such a wonderful series!

>>19358918
This image is deeply disturbing. Why the pad? Why the shit-prose book. Why the awesome album?

>>19359011
Not my problem you got filtered.

You know those chapters in A Song of Ice and Fire from Sam or Danny's perspective? The ones that are way too long, where nothing happens, and where you don't care about any of the characters in it? Yeah. That's Malice.

>>19359058
Read them all. Deeply regretted the waste of time.

>>19358893
Why are Bakker fans hiding the fact that Prince of Nothing has gay sex and blacked influences?

>>19358907
Weak bait mate.

>>19359150
He's right, though.

Read Malice if you like cheap and predictable Game of Thrones knock offs.

Holy fucking shit. Bloodline has to be the most pointlessly stretched out book in the cradle series. I've been enjoying every single book right up until now. Everyone kept saying uncrowned was horrible but bloodline is way worse than that.

>>19359150
Literal WHO

>>19358674
Are you 12 or what?

>>19358674
Yes. The Second Apocalypse Series by R. Scott Bakker.

Of the 40ish books I've read so far this year, pic is the best one I've read. You should probably read it, too.

>zero magic setting that's basically the fall of the Roman empire with a few changes
>racial stuff but actively subverted from "fuck whitey" - the Romans are all racist blacks who enforce second class citizenship on "milk faces"
>narrative style is first person from a lovablish rogue that isn't insufferable to read
>limited use of tropes, usually cleverly subverted where you see them
>actually surprising twists without being rug-pulls

It's legitimately the first book published in the last 5 years I've really enjoyed, and I highly recommend it to anyone. It's not even terribly long - 375 pages, +/-.

>>19358616
Garth Nix is a giant basedboy, isn't he? I also enjoyed those books 15 years ago but don't know that I'd touch anything modern he puts out, too likely to ruin the memories.

I'm not even sure they were actually good books, just that I enjoyed them as a teen. I also liked the star wars prequels and the league of extraordinary gentlemen movie around that time, so my tastes were shit.

>>19359265
Thanks I might check it out...Any SJW agenda in it?

>>19358320
All /sffg/fags must hang

>>19359265
this SCREAMS "le quirky britbong pophistory factoid sense of humor XDDD". i imagine it reads like garth ennis's crecy which can't possibly be entertaining for anyone outside of their teenage years.
tell me i'm wrong.

>>19359145
Because they don’t read the books.

>>19359314
why the fuck are you desperately trying to find ways to shit on stuff you don't know anything about
what a sad way to engage with books

King.

Simple as.

>>19359434
I find his greasy hair and skin problems relatable.

>>19359423
So he can find an excuse not to read it. Are you really that shock by this?

>>19359423
>>19359460
do you uncritically decide to read every single book you find out about? retards? or do you have some sort of way to determine whether you want to read a book or not?

>>19359468
You didn’t have to be a bitch about it though

>>19359525
i left you an opening to tell me i'm wrong about it, what more do you want

>>19359541
you to stop shitting up the thread entirely would be nice

>>19359559
do you think i'm some specific poster you have a vendetta against?

>>19359563
Do you think only one poster is annoyed by you

>>19359728
of course not, when i made my post i got two replies so that's more than one poster right there.
but i still haven't seen one response that's actually about the book though, just this gay feminine catty shit. did either of you actually read the book in question? i'm starting to have my doubts

>>19358331
i get that you've got a fetish, but man, take it somewhere else. the rest of us don't want to live in your delusional world.

as someone else has mentioned, you're becoming the harry potter fans of grimdark

>>19358918
YWNBAW

>>19358903
what about his next series Of Blood and Bone? is it any good?

What the fuck is E William Brown doing?
We ain't seeing shit from him.
Fucking pay piggies is letting him live the good life without publishing shit.

>>19359978
Then stop paying his patreon and shitting up the thread already.

>>19359980
I am not one of the pay piggies. I just want his books, not a chapter a month at 5 bucks a months.

>>19359987
That's even more pathetic.

>>19359936
Havent read it mate, ive only read the Faithful and the Fallen series.

>>19359987
Writing is labor. Complaining about a writer getting paid to work at their own pace especially when they’re consistently creating is real stupid. Get a life.

What is modern equivalent of Wheel of Time in 2021? No Sanderson please

>>19360069
One Piece.

>>19359255
i will not read books with sj(w), a poltiical agenda, gay romance or with a typical good-bad story.
every book that has these elements in it are a waste of time
>>19359264
thank you will check it out

>>19360069
fun is not allowed in 2021

>>19360069
Some self-publish book you won't ever read since its not traditionally publish.

>>19360081
I will. Name it.

>>19359304
Not that I noticed.

>>19359314
Well it's not actually history for one, and also doesn't ever reference real events, it's just loosely a setting that can be described as "fall of Rome with the names crossed out". It's not particularly funny so much as clever and written in a manner that makes the narrator feel like a plausible, cynical real person.

I read it and The Buried Giant back to back and enjoyed this one more. Maybe I'm a midwit, but it's a book I liked for the reasons originally stated, and one I haven't seen discussed before, so wanted to share it with an audience I suspected would largely enjoy it. Go read Moby Dick again and fuck off.

why are you not reading chinese material arts novels?

>>19360095
because it's poorly written wish fulfillment schlock

>>19360069
>Wheel of Time
is this actually good?

>>19360095
Because I'm reading a Chinese sci-fi novel (Death's End)

>>19360122
It's 10,000 pages long, which should answer you question (no).

Anyone else read pic related?

Absolutely the weirdest book I've ever read. It has everything: good vs evil, subverted tropes, military humor, vivid cannibalism, public bdsm, Flight of the Valkyries, LOTR references, graphic sex scenes, aliens, 40k style orks, Tolkien orcs, multidimensional war, and communism.

It was just entertaining enough I never quit reading but at the end all I can say is, what the fuck did I read.

3/5.

>>19360136
Forgot the pic like a retard.

>>19360122
No, but it is comfy

And it is last series before "edge" era (like GOT)

>protagonist gets cucked
>instead of just moving on he just continues to cry and beg the whore princess to be with him even after she continues to mock him over the fact that she fucked the villain
Man that's pathetic.

>>19360122
>>19360145
>No, but it is comfy
seconding this. if you have plenty of time to read, are under 30 and not jaded and cynical you just might like it.
i miss reading the series a lot but i probably won't ever read it again if that makes any sense.

>>19360154
>>protagonist gets cucked
Glad to know this so that I never read these books. Much appreciated.

>>19360145
what do you mean with "edge"?
also how is the social justice/political agenda-level in this series?
is it like in the new amazon show?
>>19360128
but long doesn't mean bad or?
>>19360157
actually i am almost 30 and pretty much jaded and cynical
>>19360154
this
>>19360160

>>19360165
it's a bit childish and good-spirited and it does meander for a long time down the middle but manages to recover well enough with some exceptions. i don't know if you're not too old to enjoy it already though. i guess if you have a lot of time to read.
there's no social justice crap, but you do have women being annoying. a lot of the time they'll think they know better and be proven wrong though

>>19360154
To be fair she was manipulated into fucking the guy albeit in a very retarded way but at the end of the day she was retarded enough to go along with it. After that even she wanted the protagonist to move on hence why she kept bringing it and rubbing it in his face up in hopes that he'd finally have enough and move on. But he doesn't and white knights her entire existence until they end up together. This is on top of the fact that she's an already insufferable character even before this stuff. It's genuinely pathetic and even makes Kvothe's massive simping of Denna in Kingkiller look tame in comparison.

>>19360165
>but long doesn't mean bad or?
It does. No story that long is worth reading. It means the author has no restraint or ability to control his craft. Even in Search of Lost Time is only 4,000 pages, and Jordan is no fucking Proust.

>>19360076
So that's a definite yes to being underage. Literally afraid of book cooties.

>>19360154
I didn't even reach that part because Simon was such a fucking retard that his antics alone killed my interest in continuing this series. I'm genuinely not surprised he got cucked.

>>19360194
thanks
will read the prince of nothing-trilogy first and after that i give this series a try
>>19360198
mhm
you have a point i guess

>>19360122
It's horrible, unironically.

Are there any western isekai worth reading?

>>19360244
What?

>>19360244
>western isekai
You mean LitRPGs? Because that what the genre is. Though the LitRPG fad died as quickly as it came.

>>19360261
Yeah, I meant them

how do you guys find the time to read?
i can't stop lurking

>>19360244
Does Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court count?

>>19360322
Stop lurking start reading. Literally just flip from your browser to a reader app.

Also, just do some here and there. If you've got downtime at your job (you do work a desk job, right anon?), or on the shitter, or riding the train, or before going to bed, read a bit.

>>19360322
just read on the can and before going to bed

>>19358331
If you do not cease and desist forthwith and post-haste, you are rapidly going to become the subject of the "No!" copypasta.

>>19360337
>(you do work a desk job, right anon?
no actually i am a production helper
>>19360338
i really have to establish a routine

>>19360154
That is nowhere near the worst part of that series, in fact it is literally the last thing on my list of complaints. Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is possibly the worst case of missed potential in a fantasy "epic" ever.

>>19360329
Ignore him, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

>>19360322
Read when you can I also listen to audio books on my commute.

>>19360244
There is, in order of my perceived quality thereof, from best to least good:
>Three Hearts and Three Lions - Poul Anderson
>The Song of Albion trilogy (I haven't finished this trilogy yet, I just started this week) - Stephen R. Lawhead
>John Carter of Mars (first three books) - Edgar Rice Burroughs
>Minerva Wakes - Holly Lisle
>Magic Kingdom for Sale / Sold! - Terry Brooks
>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum
>The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
There are also several others that I have on my reading list that I haven't gotten around to, like Gene Wolfe's The Wizard Knight duet, The Dragon Knight series by Gordon R. Dickson (this had a Rankin-Bass animated movie made out of it called Flight of Dragons) and the Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay.

>>19360329
Of course it does, but it's shit (not that guy btw)

>>19359176
Bloodline makes sense. It's a logical conclusion to what would happen if someone like Lindon went home and tried to help the people of his homeland, who were already established as being complete irremediable shits and only knew him when he was a shitty guy bucking their rules and beating up eight year olds to prove a point. It's not a fun read, though.

>>19360322
I have been reading approximately 1 hour every night before bed since February. In that span of time I have read the rough equivalent of 12 King James Bibles' worth of literature (of which I have thrown away about 1/3 for being trash), and for that matter I need to get my hands on a Wycliffe or Douay-Rheims bible to see how long it takes me to get through the real deal.

>>19358674
prince of nothing
the first law series
malazan
>>19359145
gay rape isn't portrayed as a good thing(in universe) unlike in todays zeitgeist
>>19359176
is it anything like his house of swords books because those were the worse thing i've ever read. every fucking character that the same quippy personality that can't take anything seriously and just has to get the last word in. cunt writes like someone who's the archetype redditor mcu fanboy, makes sanderson look like tolkien
>>19359265
just finished the 2nd book, very good
>>19359314
>this SCREAMS "le quirky britbong pophistory factoid sense of humor XDDD"
this is accurate, still good in spite of it

>>19360069
The Belgariad isn't modern but it has the same comfy feel

>>19360154
i've read all theses, cant remember a single thing about them
>>19360165
>is it like in the new amazon show?
lol fuck no, the show runner is a retard and they've changed a ton of stuff that fucks the entire world up. retards thing its somehow pro-feminist because the magic system is gendered but the whole point of the series is women have fucked everything up and must work together with men
>>19360377
same, 1hr commute each way and doing stuff around the house i get about 3hr a day at x1.1 speed, 71 books this year so far

>>19359145
Mutts law

>>19358320
ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY • Elder Race
ALLEN STEELE • Sanctuary
ANGELA SLATTER • Flight
BRANDON SANDERSON • Cytonic
CAITLÍN R. KIERNAN • Vile Affections
CAT RAMBO • You Sexy Thing
CHARLIE JANE ANDERS • Even Greater Mistakes
CHARLIE N. HOLMBERG • Star Mother
DARCIE LITTLE BADGER • A Snake Falls to Earth
DAVID FARLAND, ED. • L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 37
DIANA GABALDON • Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone
ELLEN DATLOW, ED. • The Best Horror of the Year • Volume Thirteen
ERIC BROWN • Enigma (with Keith Brooke)
EUGEN BACON • Danged Black Thing
FONDA LEE • Jade Legacy
GARTH NIX • Terciel and Elinor
GREG KEYES • Realms of the Deathless
IAN DOUGLAS • Alien Hostiles
IAN McDONALD • Mars Stories
IAN McDONALD • The Locomotives’ Graveyard
IAN WHATES, ed. • Burning Brightly: Celebrating 50 Years of Novacon
JAMES S.A. COREY • Leviathan Falls
JANE YOLEN • Arch of Bone
JOE R. LANSDALE • Radiant Apples
JOHN LANGAN • Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies
KEN LIU • The Veiled Throne
KEN MacLEOD • Beyond the Hallowed Sky
KIM NEWMAN • Something More Than Night
MARSHALL RYAN MARESCA • A Constabulary of One
MICHAEL BISHOP • A Few Last Words for the Late Immortals
NEAL STEPHENSON • Termination Shock
NICK MAMATAS • The Second Shooter
NNEDI OKORAFOR • Noor
STEVE RASNIC TEM • Thanatrauma
STEVEN ERIKSON • The God Is Not Willing
TAD WILLIAMS • Brothers of the Wind
TOBIAS S. BUCKELL • Shoggoths in Traffic and Other Stories
XUETING CHRISTINE NI • Sinopticon: New Chinese Science Fiction

>>19358331
Any more backstory to why chorae just salt mages ?
>Tfw read bakker
>And all of Malazan

FUARK WHAT NOW

>>19360350
What are the other complaints? I always see this series recommended. I don't care for spoilers since I'm not planning to read it.

>>19360623
Don't be that guy. Just say "isn't that cuckshit?" and move on. No reason to pretend you read bad genre fiction to strangers on the Internet.

>>19359145
Conqueror on conquered and alien rape aren't really the same thing though. That and its a blond gnostic gigachad that does all the cucking of the swarthy browoid.

>writes a fantasy where the big twist is that it was all black people all along
>realize she hates black men and spends the entire last book emasculating them
B-based?

>>19360893
I don't read racist writers.

>>19360481
>the first law series
>no sjw
Ehh debatable. Still miles better than any subversion XD fuck whitey books, tho

>>19360893
It's funny, aside the more I read from her and her interviews the more of a horrible piece of shit I think she was.
Like really the primordial twitter type.

>>19360122
It's a good saga. Start with the first 3 and if it's not floating your boat drop it

>>19360893
What is this?

>>19358674
Pretty much everything from the pulps through fritz leiber & jack vance.

>>19360623
The writer has a habit of not actually telling you the motivations for anybody, or indeed, what exactly they're trying to accomplish. The entire series is over and done with, the villain "defeated", without you ever learning the reason they wanted to plunge the world into eternal darkness and destruction and rule over ashes for.
Any time somebody tries to talk about it, they're killed off by the author before they can spill the beans and actually tell you what the plot is about.
The level of sadism borders on Game of Thrones but not quite as explicit.
The heroes don't actually accomplish anything, all of the antagonists basically just self-destruct for no reason, a lot like Bois-Guilbert in Ivanhoe but even more anticlimactically, and none of it is ever explained.
The author also seems to try very hard to go out of his way to subvert various tropes but doesn't actually make use out of any of the subversions, it's just a "hey look at this, I'm so quirky and different!" and then pretty much forgets about it, excepting the very 10 pages of the 4000 page series that reveals the hero Simon was actually the long lost descendant of the greatest king in history and therefore becomes king because he happened to be present at the defeat of the bad guys, but didn't actually participate in the defeat of the bad guys (because, indeed, none of the heroes actually compassed the death of the bad guys, who, as I said previously, got rid of themselves).

It is unspeakably disappointing.

>>19360394
>doesn't like Mark Twain

>>19360962
Le Guin's Earthsea.
It's a generic and honestly not that good fantasy series, she made a big deal of how the protag is secretly more like a red-indian/black in skintone than us evil whiteys who ought to be demographically replaced. (and that's more or less how she phrased it when she talked about it in her interviews)
Except later she became even more of a feminazi than she already was (realize this is a woman who was bitching about "white male privilege" back in the 70s and hardly ever stepped out of the whitest areas of Portland) and made a followup book called Tehanu where she made the old male mc lose all his powers, whine a whole bunch and get stomped all over by the new feminist caricature heroine.
It's like something contextualized out of one of Tariq Nasheed's fever dreams.

>>19360962

>>19360934
the second trilogy is redpilled on commie revolutionaries

>>19360992
Mark Twain is the George Carlin of the 19th century, a salty egotistical cynical prick who hates fun and enjoyment and tries to subvert everything good with his American Evangelical progressivist "end-of-history" brand of misanthropy. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court was written as a scathing satire of historical and genre fiction like Ivanhoe, which he despised, as "backwards", along with everything before the Italian Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation. To read Mark Twain is to despise history and fantasy. He is the prototypical subversive twitter SJW who turns Star Wars into edgy post-modernist garbage.

Fuck Mark Twain. He died alone and unhappy and good riddance to bad rubbish I say.

>>19361022
Pic related is good.

>>19360202
Why don't you literally go read some sjw gay sex novels that you're so defensive about. Literally.

Are the other Ender books worth the read? Or is it a Dune situation where the first one is great, the rest of Frank's stuff is of varying quality, and everything after him is trash?

>>19361067
Speaker for the Dead is supposedly better than the first one. I've never heard a word breathed about any of the other books, though.

>>19361051
No it isn't. The Prince and the Pauper is, however.

>>19361067
I disliked the first book (partially because it has little going for it outside of the twist and i've seen latecomers do it better) but Speaker was pretty decent.
Didn't bother with the rest of the series though.

Iron Prince is Cradle meets Ender's Game and That's A Good Thing.

>>19361067
yes. even the 2nd formic war books that aren't written by osc are good(they're about asteroid mining families and chinks getting liquidised by bugs), i've read them all and they're all pretty good

>>19360893
never read any of her books but since she's the only female sci Fi author I know, ofc it's Ursula le guin.

>>19361070
>>19361104
>>19361123
Thanks, I'll at least give the first two a chance, in that case.

>>19360893
>>19361013
How is this racist? It's opposite.

Any western books that have JRPG feeling? Please no Sanderson

>>19361149
Cradle

>>19361148
Aside from the fact that she was genuinely racist against whites in that "I'm totally much better than other whites who are actually evil and ought to be destroyed as a people but I also would never in a million years move out of my demographically white area" twitter way, Tehanu wouldn't fly under modern prog standards.
She effectively wrote an entire book about emasculating the heroic minority.

>>19361149
Belgarion I guess?

>>19361183
>"I'm totally much better than other whites who are actually evil and ought to be destroyed as a people but I also would never in a million years move out of my demographically white area"
Where did she say that?

>>19361104
>it has little going for it outside of the twist
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Ender's Game. The science is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the concepts will go over a typical reader's head.

most people have been conditioned to believe instantaneous communication and ftl is ubiquitous to scifi so the plot twist that it actually is, is completely missed. its akin to placing a red herring that the butler did it and then revealing that he actually did! just not how it was foreshadowed.

>>19361203
Pretty much everytime she opened her mouth about Earthsea it was to whine about "honkys", how whites wouldn't even exist in the future and that it was sickening that north european whites would write about their own people as if they would.
A completely mind-addled american in every sense of the word and living proof that the twitter crowd's beliefs didn't just start yesterday.

As for where she lived, she and her husband settled in Portland when it was 98% white and it was 92% white throughout most of her lifetime.
She couldn't have been more of as stereotypical shittalker if she had moved to Portland Maine instead of Portland Oregon.

>>19361149
What are the standards for "JRPG feeling"? The only JRPGs I've ever played are Kingdom Hearts and Pokemon Red/Blue and I don't think those are particularly good examples of the genre as a whole, let alone of literature.

>>19361149
wheel of time
The Licanius Trilogy
Belgarion
prince of nothing (unironically kind of)
>>19361281
group of adventures fighting against a big bad evil that usually turns out to be some kind of god? characters that aren't just randomners but have a personal connection to the plot i.e fate

>>19361325
>group of adventures fighting against a big bad evil that usually turns out to be some kind of god? characters that aren't just randomners but have a personal connection to the plot i.e fate
So basically any epic fantasy that's played straight? That covers everything from Tolkien to Prydain to the Iliad

>>19361281
Not quoted but i'd characterize it as:
Straight fantasy & worldbuilding, no real subversion intent.
There are LIKEABLE companions who end up joining up with the Hero.
They travel all over the place, see exotic lands, fight monsters, deal with local (often supernatural evil) problems in the vignettes, generally leave places better off than when they entered them.
Usually crowned off with some evil wizard/demon lord/alien entity/tokusatsu bad guy/big bad they fight off.
There may be minor twists like one companion being a traitor or organizations being in the thrall of the big bad but overall it's not conducive to bleakness and nihilistic horseshit. (one example is the meme of a stand-in Catholic Church being evil but the most iconic JRPG series Dragon Quest practically universally portrays it as Good and always portrays God as supremely Good with a capital G)

Obviously there are gaps in there where character arcs and depth of problems dealt with come in (DQ7 notably deals with traditions corrupted and gone overboard -> complete abandonment of traditions in favor of crass moneychasing above all else -> a return to a more balanced moderate life),and so on but that's the most base requirements of the JRPG feel in my mind.
A Hero, a Likeable Heroic Party, World Travel, Vignettes, Improving the State of Things with your actions and ultimately a satisfying climax against a Universal Foe.

>>19361344
>Tolkien
frodo wasn't destined to destroy the ring unlike say rand al thor who is the reincarnation of the dragon
>the Iliad
that was sacking a city not fighting against the embodiment of evil

>>19361203
Never

>>19361149
JRPGs are a derivation of proper RPGs which are a derivation of fantasy. So literally any book that belongs here fits your request.

>>19361406
>paraphrasing greentext of what he claims are her views
>nowt a real quote!!1
What are you a jpfag?

>>19361395
Nice explanation
So can anybody recommend me books like that?

>>19361405
But Gollum and Frodo were both destined to fall to the power of the Ring at the last moment
Also, are you seriously arguing that a war caused by the Greek gods, between the Greek gods, doesn't fulfil your previous criteria? If so, you need to readjust your requirements.

>>19361395
Literally anything by Tolkien, Lewis, or Eddings fulfil those requirements. There's Urshurak, if you can somehow get a hold of a copy. As I said before, Chronicles of Prydain is apt as well. I haven't read them (yet) but the Dragonlance and Shannara series seem to be this, and of course there's Wheel of Time which everyone keeps repeating. A lot of the Star Wars novels fit the criteria too, or at least the better ones do, but that's within a science fiction framing, I don't know if the original poster who wanted "JRPG" style settings was including scifi in his purview or just medieval fantasy.

>>19361395
I want to add that there is rarely pure medieval setting in JRPGs - there are always machines in some sort. So it is really technofantasy.

>>19361418
Not really. JRPGs are generally in the vein of Basic D&D Fantasy and the zeitgeist of that era.
Heavily influenced by pulp but still influenced by children's lit, unhindered by Tolkien puritanism and yet devoid of the western fascination with unbearable snark as a stand-in for personality, retarded stronk womyn caricatures and the recent addition of modern edgefagging and unthinking nihilism to the mix.
I'd say it's actually fairly hard to find something apporpriate outside of the japanese's own books like Lodoss and Guin Saga.
It's more reminiscent of what kids who grew up playing D&D in the 70s and 80s were into without all of the "Real Literature™" cruft.

Where do you faggets get your ear books from?
IRC? That book bay place don't have the books I'm looking for. Nor do the privates.

>>19361441
The Belgariad and to a lesser extent The Malloreon.
Cliches, some weak parts aside and a bit of snarky women aside it fits it decently.

Any books with this aesthetic?

>>19361458
jpgs degenerated into their own thing entirely, they are not close to the dnd of yore at all.

>>19361469
Libgen mainly. I also don't read much new releases outside of webnovels since modern english stuff makes me sick.

>>19361539
I was on /co/ the other day and someone posted an excerpt from Tales From Jabba's Palace where Boba Fett says that sex before marriage is immoral.

>>19361543
Dragon Quest is practically the same as the day it released.
Most of the shitty stuff doesn't really touch the games themselves and just end up as LitRPG light novels.

>>19358674
ASOIAF if you consider Ned/Jon/Tyrion to be the protagonists

>>19361566
>ASOIAF
It's really not positive at all or about Rand's effects on his surroundings for like 9 out of 11 novels though.

>>19361577
Thats Wheel of Time YOU DOLT. ASOIAF is A Song of Ice and Fire aka Game of Thrones

>>19361590
Ah fuck a bit tired and both read it wrong and though the quote context was different. nvm.

>>19361599
All good, its not often I can use the word dolt

>>19361545
Libgen doesn't do eardrum books, friend. Just text.

>>19361458
An interesting topic when fantasy from pulp adventures of heroes turned into a pretentious genre for women. And is it because of toklien, because he wrote books in the middle of the last century

>>19361634
I'd say the shift started in the 80s/90s but wasn't really fully taken over until the last 10-15 years or so.

>>19360095
>why are you not reading chinese material arts novels?
I'm interested, recommend some.

>>19361015
Unironically? Interesting. I heard it had some pretty bad le feminist takes in it but still bought the first book

>>19361281
Epic fantasy with the JRPG aesthetic, which is just 80s & 90s fantasy.

>>19361662
Nayrt but I could drop a ton of recommends there.
They have a few favored genres like Wuxia (powerful martial mortals and relatively down to earth fantasy), Xianxia (from mortals to powerful martial wizards/gods with varied fantasy), what they call the Infinity genre (literally just one of the aforementioned travelling through multiple worlds every few chapters, often rightout ripping off other IPs like Resident Evil or the Pirates of the Carribean or stuff like that), bunch of typical WN stuff like VRMMO that are not really MMO isekais, mixes of the aforementioned genres with offbeat genres and powers (for example one is not-victorian london with lovecraftian entities), and a bunch of subgenres like "runs an overpowered store in a fantasy world selling modern stuff with hidden martial benefits" (examples include cooking, videogames among others), down to rightout trashy but fun system novels where the protag has somehow gotten an X system that will reward him with powers of some kind for fulfilling misisons (which might be comedic or serious).
What's mildly interesting is that while you get a ton of copycat novels (because some of these are written for a living and to cash-in on trends) some of them are actually good despite starting out as copies.

Wuxia and Xianxia are obviously the most standard genres but I definitely read more of the later than the former. For Wuxia there's even properly published stuff like Jin Yong's releases. (well arguably the same with Xianxia considering the Fengshen Bang and Journey to the West)
I'd recommend looking up authors like Er Gen, Fang Xiang, IEatTomates, Wang Yu, Cuttlefish That Loves Diving, Kinoshita Nakui, Cold Glamor, Legend of the Paladin, Gu Zhen Ren, The Leaf That Goes Against Water, Goose Five, Chen Dong, Pig Nerd, The Enlightened Master Crouching Cow, Qi Peijia, Huangfu Qi.
That's just a few. There's honestly hundreds of others and some are obviously more likely to cater to your tastes in terms of the protags, the worldbuilding, the level of power wanking etc.

>>19361794
I tried Ze Tian Ji aka Way of Choices and enjoyed it a lot. Not a power wank fantasy at all and way better prose than I expected from a web novel, let a lone a fan translated one. Anything with a similar feel that's not from the same author?

>>19361823
Ze Tian Ji is probably on the lowest end of powerwanking you'll find since it actively avoids a lot of genre staples. One of his other books Nightfall is a bit more close to what you'd expect of the rest.
I guess you could get something approaching that out of Grandmaster Strategist, A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality, World of Cultivation or I Shall Seal the Heavens depending on your tastes. None are quite as literary in tone (though Er Gen does love to quote actual daoist stuff every now and then) but they're definitely not bad.

>>19358918
Minus the pad.. fuckin based. I listened to The Ruins of Beverast throughout while reading Bakker.

>>19361898
I'm pretty sure she only posted the pad because someone asked her if she was a tranny.

>>19361913
If anything that makes me more likely to think it's a troon.

>>19358674
Conan the Barbarian

>>19361977
At this point, I wouldn't be surprised.

I've literally given up on writing my fantasy novel magnum opus series and switched to devving a solo RPG instead. It's actually coming along well given it's my first game. Feels good bros, knowing millions of people could potentially play my game, compared to the literal three digit numbers that might read my books.

>>19361662
Mistakenly Saving the Villain

>>19362140
back to >>>/v/

>>19362140
>Feels good bros, knowing millions of people could potentially play my game,
Is this some sort of cope?

>>19358674
Priest of Bones

>>19358674
Malice by John Gwynne.

>>19358616
I went back and found myself enjoying the original trilogy again.
Clariel was fun, if just for the extended world building, but it had some very low points.
I found Goldenhand forgettable.
My mother just gifted me the new one, so I'm sure I'll read it at some point. I don't have high hopes.

>>19362484
>My mother just gifted me the new one,
Your mother gifts you books?

>>19362582
Yeah, she did it a lot when I was young.
Sabriel was one of the first series I really enjoyed, she did too, I think that's why she keeps sending me the new ones. It is probably the only reason I've read them.

>>19362595
Neat, which more mothers do that.

>>19362473
Is this really good? Why is it suddenly being shilled here so often? Looks like generic vikings fanfic tier

>>19362617
A single dedicated poster can do a lot here.

>>19362617
>Is this really good?
Yeah, you should give it a try, you won't regret it.

>>19358320
Nice

I"m finishing up the Assassin's Apprentice trilogy currently on chapter 38 of Assassin's Quest and am wondering why the author is such a sadist against Fitz Chivalry he exists to suffer.

>>19358363
wait a few months, reread the series then immediately read Urth

>>19360993
book 3
>wizard uses spirit bomb to stop the rich jews in the american government
>'this is going to destroy my magic powers though'
book 4
>wizard has no magic powers
feminism!

Tehanu is an annoying, self-indulgent book, but le Guin was no feminist and you're one of the two categories of retard it was intended to trigger.

Describe what you like about your favorite book, while also trying to conceal what book is it.

>>19362808
Why would we do that?

>>19362724
Adversity builds character.

I just started book 9 and got to the kidnapping arc in Wheel of Time. Please tell me it ends soon. I can't tell if I'm more pissed that it's fucking irrelevant or that Faile gets so many POVs while Aviendha has had one (1) so far in all the books. Please tell me it doesn't stretch to book 10.

>>19362921
The Slog... it begins.

>>19362930
Fuck

>>19362945
Why are you reading if you hate to read?

>>19363016
>prefering to read some things more than others means you hate to read
/sffg/ making high IQ posts as usual

>>19363047
Answer the question, anon.

>>19362724
>Assassin's Apprentice trilogy
Surprised people here read it, considering how often they use any and all excuse to not read.

>>19362724
>>19363088
It's called the Farseer trilogy.

>>19363088
name fifteen excuses I've used to not read a book, other than female author, gay or minority characters, or they as a singular personal pronoun

>>19363100
>other than female author, gay or minority characters, or they as a singular personal pronoun
Just say you don't read, I'll respect your honesty.

>>19363088
Why do people hate Robin Hobb again?

>>19362617
> Looks like generic vikings fanfic tier
I thought so too from the cover, however I was pleasantly surprised that its not after reading the whole series over a month. Its a solid 8.5/10 series that feels like it was written 20 years ago (before woke culture and SJW etc.). Id recommend it if youre a fan of fantasy.

>>19363137
Shes a woman and is obsessed with cuckery.

>>19363137
Fitz gets cucked by the guy who raised him

>>19363137
People here don't read her and just believe all the bullshit other anons say.

>>19363137
Excessively depressing suffering porn, that refuses to have any highs to offset it.

>>19363151
So are some other authors, what makes Hobb unique?

>>19363174
Don't read them either

>>19363180
That's fair.

We need to update this chart. It’s outdated.

>>19363209
How many of these have been written by anons of /sffg/?

>>19363223
People here don't write.

I only read fantasy scifi and make philfags seeth anons

>>19363223
only the good ones

>>19363223
Literally none.

>>19363209
Orconomics seems neat, has anyone read that?

>>19363293
Read it awhile back. I thought it was pretty bad but remember very little of it.

>>19363305
What about all system red?

>>19363309
Never read it. But I've been meaning to.

>>19363309
It's alright but not self-published.

>>19363209
Otherlife seems good same with that Super sales.

>>19363344
Just buy the coomer books. It’s what many people here do.

>>19363209
Do any of these authors even ear a profit from this?

>>19361148
This is your brain on anti-white "woke" ideology.

>>19362921
The first 6 books in WOT are a fun read, the last book is suprisingly better than books 7 to 13, despite Sanderon doing the writing here. I think Jordan left enough material for Sanderson to work on in that final extremely long last chapter in book 14. If youre on book 9 id continue, youve almost passed the low-point of the series.

As I open a PKD novel, I ask:
>”what the fuck is Phenmatrzine Hydrochloride?”

>>19363377
It's a stimulant drug that was previously used as an appetite suppressant

>>19360122
it's like a sitcom that has too many seasons, it was just a way for him to write and make money, the actual content of the book doesn't matter because all the current readers have stockholm syndrome and lure in other readers like crack addicts.

>>19363389
Ah thanks. I did look it up but just thought it was a funny occurrence. I like the paranoia already in the work about high IQ men rigging everything. I’ll read on.

>>19363209
There's a lot of Arand on here. I bet he made this image

>>19363376
I've heard the same before and I had no plans to drop it despite the slog. I enjoyed it all up to this point and still like the characters and interactions, even if wolf and falcon are my least favorite. Glad to hear I'm approaching an upswing though

>>19363441
Nah, someone else did.

>Kellhus let Leweth behind
WTF
What an ass

>>19361539
Tales From Jabba's Palace

Is Redwall a good series for children? Trying to gift my nephew something to read.

>>19363524
Redwall is timeless classic that you should get for him.

>>19362801
>le guin was no feminist
Her entire raison d'être for writing Tehanu was shitting on how she wrote women in the earlier books. She wasn't shy about this and outright said as much.

>>19363137
Full of fujo-tier faggotry, misery porn and has no wortwhile story to offset it.

>>19363546
But how does that make her a feminist?

>>19363524
Yes! Redwall is excellent for boys between 10-15.

>>19363553
> defending a woman writer.

>>19363553
>disavowing her earlier work in order to write feminist tirades
>how does this make her a feminist

>>19363562
>No argument

Any fantasy novel of science fiction novel that has a psychological leaning to it?

>>19363513
You ain't seen nothing yet.
>>19363376
I completely disagree. The last battle was boring as hell. It went on for WAY too long and I'm not a fan of Sanderson's battles.

>>19363632
book full of sociopaths or what?

>>19363639
Edgy teenage shit. So, yes.

>>19363617
>psychological
God, I wish more books were psychological. Been reading a few, and I like it a lot.

>>19363617
>>19363658
While I do like psychological novels, its an anathema to fantasy and science fiction novels. Since it emphasizes interior characterization and motivation to explore the spiritual, emotional, and mental lives of the characters.

>>19363689
I wouldn’t go that far and say it’s incompatible with one another. That’s something that can be done in fantasy and in science fiction novels, the problem, however, is that the readers won’t have any interest in reading it. Especially when you face classics like the brother karamazov, crime and punishment, etc.

Recommend me a coomer book.

>>19363531
>>19363555
Redwall is way too violent. Why not recommend him something more tamer?

>>19363718
M.A.G.I Hunters 1: A Bounty Hunter Fantasy Series (M.A.G.I. Hunters)

>>19363727
Do these type of books sell well?

>>19363617
Try the worship series by Frank Herbert.

>>19363749
>Frank Herbert.
Tried reading Dune and I found it horrible.

>>19363740
Must be since M.A.G.I Hunters is #41 in Magic Games, #59 in Mage Gaming, #95 in Alternative History.

>>19363779
Jesus, all within the top 100.

>>19363719
>Redwall is [...] violent

>>19363806
It's an extremely lucrative business.

>>19363719
Harry Potter.

>>19363821
I can see why self-publishing took off. It cuts off the middle man.

>>19363832
It removes the gate keeping aspect which is good the problem is filtering through all the trash.

>>19363844
I just buy coomer shit. It's enjoyable.

>>19363719
> cartoonish animals killing each other
> too violent
Lemme guess..You grew up without a dad to take you hunting and fishing?

>>19363863
You should make a chart

>>19363872
I don't think people here would want a male power fantasy chart.

>>19363863
>>19363889
I can see why this is profitable. It just appeals to the male ego.

>>19363910
It certainly beats what published today, besides, if given a choice, I'll rather buy these type of books.

Has anyone on /sffg/ self-publish anything?

>>19363910
As if the majority of books published today aren't written to appeal to the female ego?

>>19363930
Those books at least have standards.

>>19363933
Don't make me laugh, hole.

>>19363923
Hahahaahahahhaahahahahah

>>19363923
My web novel:
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/31062/saga-of-the-cosmic-heroes

>>19363956
Respectable

>>19363936
What’s funny? Has no anon here ever tried to set-publish something before?

>>19363986
>Has no anon here ever tried to set-publish something before?
No, several people are too proud to ever resort to that.

>>19363992
You forgot to add that no one here writes.

>>19363993
It's that no one writes, its that their writing is shit to begin with.

>>19363872
You would be surprised look at the self published chartsin the mega

>>19364019
Has it been updated?

>>19364023
This is its most updated version >>19363209

>>19364043
That’s a shame. Was wondering if people here were keeping up with the new releases.

>>19363844
>problem is filtering through all the trash.
Just focus on the authors instead, so you have a small but reliable books for the future.

>>19363956
I’ll read this when I have the chance.

new thread
>>19364071

>>19363956
I'll give it a try anon, is it finished?

>>19360592
The Black Company

>>19361539
Dune