/lit/ - Literature

Engines of Empire, The Age of Uprising #1 - Richard S. Ford (2022)

The biggest problem for me with this book was that it didn't seem to have a sense of its own identity. It didn't know what it wanted to be. Perhaps that was the point. If everything is tried all at once then maybe some part of it will work. The story felt to me more like a cobbled together assemblage of disparate story elements rather than a coherent and organic whole. Even so, the overall narrative was weirdly traditional. Several promising ideas and concepts were included, but few of them saw regular use. It would've been far more interesting to me if it instead had been a metastory about contemporary fantasy versus traditional fantasy.

A basic plot summary would be that the children of a powerful family go their own ways and through the trials they face develop their own individual strengths. As noted by the series name, there's also an uprising. There are two empires, one is magitek and the other necromantic. Although there was some promise with the magitek, it's mostly surface level and not nearly enough was done with it for my preference. The necromantic followed through with demons, human sacrifice, immortality(?), and similar being prevalent.

I don't know quite why it was, but I didn't care for almost any of the characters. It's not just because almost every character constantly makes terrible choices or behaves ridiculously. I can tolerate that. Yet, I found myself indifferent to what any of them did. Some characters seemed to exist only to be killed off, but since they were only there for relatively few pages, it didn't really have any impact on me. At the reveal of the antagonist of the story, who is a cackling melodramatic megalomaniac convinced of their own self-righteousness, I could be barely be bothered to roll my eyes.

Initially this seemed to have promise, but it wasn't able to deliver what I wanted. While there are structural problems with it, it was more the accumulation of many small concerns that harmed my enjoyment. I won't be reading any more from this series. That's not because it's a bad book, it isn't, but rather because I don't have any sense of personal investment in it. I read this as part of a whim where I would read a book that was published each month this year. The book I was going to read for this month was pushed back to next month and this was its substitute.

Rating: 2.5/5

I was only 49 years old. I loved Kellhus so much, I had all the circumfix and texts. I'd pray to Kellhus every night thanking him for the salvation of my soul. Truth Shines! I would say. All hail Anasurimbor! the scylvendi hears and calls me a faggot weeper. I knew he was just jealous for my devotion to Kellhus. I called him an infidel, he slaps me and sends me to go fight the holy war. I'm crying in my saddle and my face hurts. I go into Kellhus tent and its really cold. A warmth is moving towards me. I feel something touch me. It's Kellhus! I'm so happy. He whispers in my ear "The thoughts of all men arise from the darkness. If you are the movement of your soul, and the cause of that movement precedes you, then how could you ever call your thoughts your own?". He grabs me with his powerful halo'd hands and puts me on my hands and knees. I spread my ass cheeks for Kellhus. His gnostic cant penetrates my wards. It hurts so much but I do it for the God. I can feel my onta being stretched as my eyes start to water. I push against his inverse prophecy. I want to please Kellhus. His head catches fire as he fills my butt with his love. Saubon walks in. Kellhus looks him straight in the eye and says "not everyone can be saved". Kellhus teleports to the horizon. Truth shines, The God Wills it.

WHAT DO YOU SEE
I CANNOT SEE

>>19785972
>Tolkien Elves were 100% original to him.
That's what every fantasy writer says about their elves.

What would you recommend to someone who reads this?

Autistic main characters are GOAT.

any scifi booken where a circumcision is performed in space or on an ‘alien’ planet and, preferably, detailed quite extensively?

Apologies. I posted right before the bump limit like a fucking retard.
Hello. I'm looking for a youth fantasy book that I have a vague memory of reading in my early teens. I have no idea about the author or title of the book, but it made a huge impression on me as a child, and is one of the primary reasons for my current interest in ancient Celtic history. I'd appreciate it if anyone could help identify the book.
The synopsis is as follows:
>In the early 40's, a young boy from London is sent to live with his relatives(?) in the country because of the blitz. He arrives there to find a little village and a huge mansion occupied by an older couple with whom he is supposed to stay. He spends a long time exploring the surroundings and particularly an abandoned castle ruin on top of a hill. He also befriends the son of a butcher(?), whose father might have been abusive.
>The two friends decide to spend a night at the ruins in order to investigate some old legend about the castle. During the night(?) they discover that the body of Merlin is buried beneath the castle ruins. Somehow they manage to either resurrect him or visit him in the realm of the dead. My memory is kind of hazy from here, because I read these last chapters early in the early morning after a sleepless night. I think the gist of it is that Merlin (and possibly Arthur himself?) is awoken from his grave to once again repel the Germanic invasion of Britain.
I have been looking for the title of this book for quite a while. Any clues?

>>19786402
is it like pic related?

>>19786458
It sucks because I'm a weeb

>>19786458
It is better

>>19786129
Just read Shadow of the Torturer. Enjoyed it very much, especially the sequence in the Botanic Gardens and Severian's Dreams.

>>19786467
>>19786494
the duality of man

>>19786129
He's dead isn't he?

>>19786572
hopefully!

Now this is fantasy!

>Bakker Bakker!
the Bakkerchads proclaimed
>Tolkien Tolkien!
the fantasy old-schoolers declared
>Sanderson! Sanderson!
the people with an infinitely growing Sanderson backlog added
>Wolfe Wolfe!
the giantess fetishists included
Their king of /sffg/, their only king. But in the corner of the inn a man sat with a calm over his entire aura, playing a lute before stopping abruptly to say louder than anyone
>two more years, just two and a half more years until The Doors of Stone, three more! Trust me this time
the inn went silent until the strings of the lute began being played once more, deep down they knew their time was limited, they knew, the true king of /sffg/ would take back the throne in 2, I mean 3 years. It was only a matter of time now. They were afraid.

Still looking for stuff like Diablo. Demon lords, dungeons, heaven vs hell.

It appears that even after agreeing to leave Sanctuary be, the powers of Heaven and Hell continued to war over the fortress for a time. The blood of thousands of champions of the Light were spent in these battles, many of such champions being mortal. However, as it no longer contained the Worldstone, the interest of Heaven and Hell in the fortress had severely waned. By the time of the Prime Evils' intended return to Hell, the Pandemonium Fortress was occupied by the forces of Heaven, and was their last bastion before the Gates of Hell. However, by this point, it had effectively been abandoned. Diablo, having passed through the Infernal Gate, passed through the fortress before entering Hell. Still, it was from the fortress that a group of heroes, at the behest of Deckard Cain and Tyrael himself, were able to venture into Hell and thwart Diablo's plan.

>>19786458
came here to post that image
Good morning fellow cultivators

>>19786458
Are there any Cultivation RPGs based specifically around Nofap and Semen Retention? Where the more the Protagonist resists the temptation of pornography the stronger he becomes until he liberates the world from Jewish control?

>>19787058
There's a manga similar to that.

>>19787058
There's not even many cultivation rpgs? Maybe Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate. Exalted and Godbound have the upper tiers of power but the rules don't really talk about how to get there. S/WWN has the rules for being little scrappy nobody to being a hero to being a demigod but again it's not really a cultivation rpg. There's probably some story game fate shit I don't know about though.

Alright, I'm gonna do it.
I'm gonna read Conan.
How should I do it? Get the Lancer books and do it in that order, or is The Complete Chronicles of Conan good?

King of /sffg/.

Simple as.

>>19785403
You need to be 18 to post here.

>>19785628
>Threadly reminder that Tolkien has no more literary merit than Sanderson.
I don't understand why you are making comparisons between two shit authors.

Shit is still shit.

>>19787278
His hair is nice.

>>19787300
Heck yeah sanderson best other chuds notgood

I want a good edition of a song of ice and fire that is not the folio edition because I can't afford it
Any suggestions? I don't like reading the paperback editions
Are any of them sewn?

Are any of these modern attempts at pulp anthologies worth checking out? Anybody got any recommendations?

even though this general is on /lit/ its users seem to be more on a /b/ tier desu

>>19787815
Does it trouble you?

>>19787815
That is why we are put in a general.

>>19787815
I also thought like you, until I read Bakker.

>>19787815
Yeah, \b\akker
BAKKER
I I
N N
O O

Reading Shogun because someone mentioned it last thread. Not very far into it yet, I think it's kinda funny that all the characters are speaking intelligible japanese but the author completely made up all the political actors and gave them some very unJapanese sounding names. Also I want Wirriam instead of this donut character.

>>19787815
Because /lit/ is a bunch of wojaks and boohoo I am so sad, wow kafka and david foster wallace is literally me, hey guysss have any of you read guenon or Zapffe??? omg, so true. So based.
I come here to shitpost in this thread, see some recommendations or recommend something and I leave this board.

Pulp fiction /k/oming through, out the way losers.

I'm currently going through the Ender Quartet right now and just finished Xenocide. All have been 9 or 8/10 so far.

Are the other books in the Enderverse worth it? I remember reading Ender's Shadow in middle school and I thought Bean was a Gary Stu.

Reposting because I got a dumb non-answer last thread.

>>19788081
ender in exile is fine I guess

>>19786129
Guys please help.
There was an old novel I read when I was a kid, where some guy gets put on another planet by aliens who wanted to see what would happen. The guy winds up in fucking 5th century England, but aliens. The whole premise is that the guy walks around thinking he is going to become a liege lord using his 21st century knowledge, but then realizes he doesn't know how to make anything.
Please, I'm begging, does anyone know what book this is? I've searched everywhere, and cant find it. I remember the title had "Swift" in it, but that's it. It was the funniest thing I had ever read.

>go to Scifi and Fantasy bookstore
>two other guys come in
>they notice the cashier is qt girl (female)
>they instantly triple their volume so everyone can hear their "witty conversation"
>they start repeating memes and laughing at their own references

Which one of you guys was it?

>>19788545
You were in the presence of two kings that day.

what am I in for lads?

>>19788545
If I had a friend I wouldn't be here

>>19788342
Hard to Be a God

>>19786572
Read the first chapter of the first book.
Is the main character himself, i.e. a self-insert? That's how it sounds like...
Also his wikipedia page reads like it's written by himself.

>>19786884
Warhammer Fantasy. anything that takes place in Chaos.
Maybe some Khorne champion stuff as well.

whats a good fantasy book that takes place in a typical tabletop dnd type setting? like with elves and wizards and shit. adult only, no YA, and bonus if its dark fantasy

>>19788600
Initial DraglonLance books obviously.
Also Gotrek and Felix first book (Trollslayers) is basically some D&D encounters in book form for a two-men (a dwarf and a human) party.

>>19788565
Ocean's Eleven but in fantasy Venice. Consistetly Funny, nice dynamic between characters, well thought out and pretty cool world building.
If I had to criticise it I'd say the antagonist is a bit bad, but that's almost a nitpick as this is unironically my favorite book.

>>19788609
I'm pretty sure dragonlance is YA bro

>>19786163
Unverified claims! Fake news lying media!
All reliable reporting confirms that our Most Holy Aspect-Emperor do be laying that pragma pipe with the cool, calm, detached demeanor of a mendicant monk. If anyone is giving in to passion and making ahegao faces, it is most certainly not Him, but miscellaneous bimbo waifus and himbo generals. Blessed are those plowed by his sacred organ, which the Zaudunyani have dubbed the Thickest Path!
We are told by two highly placed sources within the Anasurimbor administration that at night, the walls of the Andiamine Heights echo with ecstatic feminine cries, going, "Our Salvation! Our Salvation! Dunyain seed stronnnk!"

>>19788622
Nice sounds good

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/50656627-along-the-razor-s-edge

any opinions on this one, or its author?

>>19788717
welp nvm
its pozzed and therefore dropped

>>19788719
Gods aren't arseholes, they're just above mortals in the same way mortals are above bacteria on their bodies. Sure they are needed to live, but they are so far below us in every way it's impossible and insane to care about individual bacteria.

>>19788650
YA isn't real.

>>19788738
this

Is eternal champion a good read? I've heard it's similar to AOT.

>>19788719
>>19788736
anyone who says arse is cringe

>>19788784
You can dictate the spelling of arse when your nation produces a Shakespeare

>>19788784
Stupid mutt

>>19788795
Shakespeare (Shake Spear) was Black. Kys limey.

>>19788784
>anon didn't read the picture

>>19786226
What is this gnostic crap?

>>19786226
>Gnostic bible
You need to go back to /x/

>>19788565
Pretty good series so far, I liked it. Good amount of humor and intrigue. Shame that it's taking so goddamn long, he's GRRM-tier at this point. Last book was in 2013.

>>19788589
That's definitely not what anon described. Ok book, far worse movie. Just like Roadside Picnic.

>>19788081
I haven't read them since I was a teen, but I remember dropping Children of whatever some way through.
I think it's mostly my fault because I don't give a flying fuck about Novinha at all. It doesn't help that the book said she was middle aged by the time Ender got there, so I was picturing an ugly old mexican lady with leather skin.

>>19788081
I didn't much care for the later ones. They are not bad, but they just aren't nearly as good. Some of it may have been my general distain for prequels though.

But not just the enderverse, Cards Writing has gotten more bland over the years. Worthing saga, Treason etc are all top notch sci fi but now days he thinks he has 'mastered fiction storytelling', it's like the pacing is dictated by some algorithm or some shit. It all just feels uninspired.

I guess one little autistic thing that really got my goat was in Enders Game the buggers were quite alien, the existence of a queen was unconfirmed speculation championed by Rackham, in the prequels everyone just accepted it as a forgone conclusion. Really riled my jimmies.

Ender's Game makes me think of Iron Prince. Sequel when

>>19788342
There's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" by Mark Twain but I'm pretty sure that's not it. What I do know is that the book you're looking for has a similar enough premise that you may find it while looking for works inspired by this book

fuck you metalfags if you are here

Bakker fangs shine with light
Like kellhus hands shines supreme

Bakker figure beams with might
Like an Inchoroi rapes extreme

Why does Sanderson feel the need to spell absolutely everything out in his stories? Something I've noticed is that he almost never leaves the reader to infer meaning or draw their own opinions

imagine what GRRM's farts smell like

>>19789525
he's writing for dimwits and teenagers

any new Literature involving romance as a main or sub plot in the land of genre fiction released lately?

Any recommendations on novels that focus on warrior cultures?

Just finished "Warrior of the Altaii" and loved it, but wish it had gone more in the Altaii culture.

>>19789525
he writes for pozzedwits and unbaseders

we live in an absolute pozzed age
the based are locked in a cage

we live in an absolute pozzed age
women on covers that's very strange

>>19788738
If it's not real, are none of Sanderson's books real?

>>19789525
WoW, you just realized that Sando's target audience is teenagers?

>>19786572
I think he's just taken the Covid coolaid and locked his gouty ass in the basement of his tobacco farm.

>>19789838
Don't quit your day job if that's the level of writing you can produce.

>>19788592
Keep reading.

>>19790038
right wings are the true rebels, antifa are the real fascists, fascists are the new punk, punks are the real fascists

4chans are the real free thinkers

Old lady at the book store told me this was the greatest libertarian novel ever written. This true?

>>19790081
You are retarded.

>>19787276
The quality of the Conan stories are all over the place, so you definitely want a curated list instead of some "complete chronology" crap.

>>19788592
appearnce wise yes but otherwise no

>>19790173
If you think cuckolding is a libertarian value I guess it's pretty good, but Stranger in a Strange Land is the best of Heinlein's cuck lolbert period IMO. Moon is a Harsh Mistress would be a good followup to le Guin's The Dispossessed, because there's a hilarious contrast between the two, and that's probably on purpose.

>>19790081
>get called out for writing a shitty pair of garbage couplets with lazy rhymes
>hurrrr only dumb identity politics living rent free in my head durrr
fucking npcs

>>19790089
Maybe like a decade ago. Nowadays this place is the biggest collection online of sheeple, echo chambers, drones, or whatever is the current fotm term for gullible, idiot losers.

>>19790465
>the biggest collection online of sheeple
That's reddit, newfag, lurk moar.

>>19790465
said the pozzed book reader

I haven’t read a whole lot of books. I’m on chapter 5 of shadow of the torturer and I feel like I have to read a lot of the paragraphs 2 times for it to process in my ADD YouTube fried brain

What do I read to fill the void after catching up with Beware Of Chicken?

>>19788565
Utter disappointment when you get to the sequels. Enjoy the ride while it's still good.

>horizon in the middle of nowhere page count: 25416
>A page have 500 words on average
>This totals to about 12700000 words total
>The Wheel of Time have 4410036 words total
What the actual fuck.

>>19790616
but is it any good?

>>19790616
That's so very wrong in so many ways.

>>19790635
It's a japanese LN, so no.

>>19790428
>cuck lolbert

But those two things are inherently contradictory.

>>19790089
When I found this site years ago it wasn't full of people loudly demanding everyone submit to the establishment.

>>19790554
Despite the second book being a major step down in all areas, having several sections that slog through, and overall being pretty much "filler", it was still a good book. Goes to show how strong the first book was I guess
For me at least the third one was somewhere in between the first and the third, though I'm a sucker for romance

>>19790656
Clearly you haven't read Heinlein.

>>19790663
Submit to Bakker, he rules supreme

>>19790651
understandable

>>19790716
pozzed picture, sleeping with pillows is more based than sleeping with w*men, because if its a real w*man then you are a simp!

>>19789154
>>19790554
Yes I'm skeptical about fantasy authors that start series and don't finish them. Whatever happened to the stand alone? Based on what I read on the guy he is never going to finish, it's been longer than Germ with Dance With Dragons and the guy has not even written anything else. Apparently he's mentally ill and will never write again.

>>19790680
>that shit
>romance

>>19790822
Well, you can enjoy the first book as pretty much a standalone. Hell, unless you absolutely love it I'd recommend doing so.
But I also understand it's s matter of principle/intent, and I agree with your point
>>19790847
Look, I know my taste is shit in this regard, but I can't really control it, can I?

>>19790465
yeah but it's noticeably better than anywhere else and being an anonymous imageboard annoying social dynamics aren't as much of a factor (like hierarchies and getting mass-harassed by unhinged subhumans). also you don't get banned for having your own opinion.

>>19786136
Good review, thanks

>>19790465
yeah but it's noticeably better than anywhere else and being an anonymous imageboard annoying social dynamics aren't as much of a factor (like hierarchies and getting mass-harassed by unhinged subhumans). also you don't get banned for having your own opinion rather than a regurgitated display of your conformity to some manufactured, strongarmed bullshit of a whole two ""positions"".

>>19788565
This book has absolutely no right being as good as it is, schlock with maximum flavor.

>>19790876
Yeah I'll read the first one at least. Good to know it stands alone.

>>19789322
fuck (You)

https://youtu.be/WFT61Ro0Gig
https://youtu.be/JZ5G97vHiEY
https://youtu.be/KSSEzWXqGKY

>>19791066
Yeah the flavor I think is going to hook me as I love Renaissance era

>>19786884
Read the Diablo novels?

Thoughts on this book?

>>19790173
Not really, it sets up critics of libertarianism for
>hurr your ideology needs a superintelligent AI in order to work lmao

Strong political ideology and fiction don't usually make a good mix. Something always gets sacrificed. Look at Atlas Shrugged; it was a fucking boring novel. Whether you like her ideology or not, it's far more palatable when it's presented as 200 pages of pure philosophy, not 1000 pages of philosophy and shitty train plot lines mixed together.

any scifi romance?

>>19791468
I just finished the first chapter. The first pages it was good. Easy to read unlike other Philip K Dick books. Then it started becoming his usual weirdness and I was turned off. Then got easier again toward the end.

You guys didn't warn me that Bakker wasn't just a meme.

>>19787286
>>19787300
*burns metals and gets behind you*
>heh, nothing personal kid

Without sounding too stupid.

What are some books that delve into the aspects of children building settlements in space while dealing with outworldly horrors?
Also Sci-Fi horror in general.

Is this worth reading all 9 books?

I'm looking to start a massive series. Is this the one? Or do I dare to start Wheel of Time?

>>19792151
I think it was ok

>>19791925
tfw when Bakker isn't just a meme but he actually rules supreme

the garbage TV show has had me rereading WoT
the books are way better than I remembered, god damn

>>19792151
no, they are all garbage

>>19790316
If you're talking about the original REH stories, there's really only one, maybe two stinkers of the bunch, and they're still worth reading to see how Howard progressed in writing the character. If you're talking about the non-Howard stuff, they're not even really worth considering beyond some of the comics.

>>19792438
i don't even get why everyone hates the show, it's decent enough, comfy and doesn't try too hard like gotshit. it's lo-fi and i like it that way.

WoT show was the fantasy event of the year. Only the finale was a stinker.

>>19792151
I’m reading through them now. 1 and 2 are good. 3 is okay but some of the POV (I.e. Anna) are really fucking boring. I’ve heard mixed things about 4 but from there apparently it gets good again? Would need some other anons to confirm though.

how often do you guys think publishers pay for reviews? pretty often a book has 4.5 stars on amazon but then the majority of the top reviews are negative. empire of vampire is a good example

>>19792652
any cover that has George Martin writing "____ the way it should be written" or something along similar lines is generally paid for

>>19792151
They're decent. Not mind blowing, but good for passing the time. Better than the show, as usual.

Medieval aliens. Closer to hard historical fiction than scifi, which makes it all the better.

What should I read next, neuromancer, stars my destination, or the next book in the expanse series?

>>19792776
Make progress in series you've already started so that don't pile up

>>19792776
I'm not a fan of neuromancer or expanse so I recommend stars my destination but I don't know what that is.

>>19792151
I found the show so boring I doubt I'll touch it

>>19792021
The Drifting Classroom

Can someone explain to me the deal with bards in fantasy?
As in like why? What's their origin and why do authors so often put in random bards in small and sometimes big roles. Were medieval times full of bards?

>>19792956
thanks, reading it right now.

>>19792151
I've read 5 and I'm done. The character back stories get kind of tired and annoying.

>>19789525
because he has confidence in his ability to answer all mysteries instead of letting them vague (unanswered) like most hack writters do.

>Hermaphrodite beings obsessed with freedom and isolation.
What the flying fuck am I reading?

>>19793125
A lot of fantasy and sci-fi writers were coomers, even good ones like Wolfe.

>>19793125
Asimov was always shit.

>>19793125
Yeah, the Sequels are pretty bad. The Prequels are ok/good, but expecting anything close to the Original Foundation trilogy is setting yourself up for disapointment.

>>19792652
Have you read Empire of Vampire? I recommend it to an anon looking for a vampire story but I haven't actually read it myself. He seemed interested. I wonder if I led him astray.

>>19793125
You need to put spoilers on your spoiler, anon.

That’s not even the point of the finale though. This is just an alien, something missing from that universe the whole time.

>>19791468
Just finished the second chapter. The main character just had a "glitch in the matrix" experience, he remembered a light switch which was a cord in the bathroom when it was actually a wall switch, then couldn't remember any cord switch from anywhere. Seems like a suppressed memory or something. I heard the Truman Show was based on this book so I guess that scene was the equivalent of pic related in the movie.

>>19792970
Yeah, Bards (poets, musicians, story tellers, ect...) were important and some were well paid and famous. You probably had a bunch of NEET bards that sat around pubs or their family estates hoping to "make it" but overall you had to be educated and skilled. Literally what else would these people do when they get drunk? They needed entertainment.

>>19793398
Well there's lots of games still. I love playing cards the few times I drink. But I get you.

I don't think I've read any fantasy books. I've read a handful of science fiction books and I think I have a decent understanding what science fiction is. But I don't even know what fantasy is. Can someone explain it?

>>19793443
Lord of the Rings knockoffs

>>19792649
Watching it now.
Episode 1 felt semi weak since the editing just felt off for me and the first scene had bad acting, who on earth chooses a bad acted intro to their show, 2 and 3 were actually quite good, 4 is weak so far.
Rand, Lan, Mat, Logain and Moraine are very well casted and I kinda like Eamon. Some castings feel off but otherwise it's alright. Watchable.

>>19793462
4 seems to be the best rated episode though, maybe the first half is just boring.

Name a better first contact story.
>inb4 Bakker

Any fantasy stories with a character as angry or angrier than Achilles?

>>19793337
its smut

>>19793516
Okay, but was it any good?

>>19792970
Great value is placed on recitation in Oral Cultures, for obvious reasons. If no one remembers, recites, and passes on the traditions then those traditions die. They are not preserved in books.
And so part of a Hero's immortality was very much that his deeds would be passed on orally through verse or tale for generations to come. The Bard, or cultural equivalent, becomes part of the equation of everlasting glory.

The bard as the traveling, tale telling, scallywag, is a more modern twist on this though. Often in Oral Cultures those tasked with remembering and reciting served a spiritual or priestly role, remembering complex rituals and chants, like the Druids of Celtic Europe, or the Vedic Brahmin.

There is also a connection of voice with a numinous or spiritual quality. Breath is life. Control over breath, voice, to change the hearts of men is often portrayed as a kind of magic, or divine gift. If you have spoken well changed someone's mind to get something you want you have 'Charmed' them.
In the Bible God spoke creation in to existence. Om/Aum, the sacred syllable of Hinduism, is connected to the ultimate core of reality, Heraclitus spoke of the Logos, the word, which John identified with Jesus.
Language and its use has always been the first and most powerful kind of magic.

>>19793525
ehh... maybe if you're a coomer into that sort of thing. judging from the reviews, it seems marketed towards women. even looking at the cover gives me that impression

>>19793527
>it seems marketed towards women.
Terrible then, nonstop bean-flicking cringe.

>>19793527
I am a woman but it wasnt what i was looking for. I'm disappointed now. I feel bad for the anon now.

>>19786226
A lobotomy.

>>19793598
most contemporary vampire lit targets females for some odd reason. probably some weird freudian shit at play

>>19793598
>>19793705
also anon is a hysterical retard if he didn't look at the cover and immediately pick up on that. or read the reviews. seems pretty obvious

>>19793705
even before twilight?

>>19793705
Vampires are pretty much magical rapists and women love that for some reason

>>19792650
>Would need some other anons to confirm though.
Sure, I've updated this on a whim.
This is from the GR group.
Attrition rates for series is terrible as usual.
There are of course those that didn't provide a rating, but oh well.
There are other series in the spreadsheet and can be looked up as well on your own.

>>19793831
Juden Peterstein did make a good point about the female hero archetype, being a strong but sensitive woman who tames a powerful beast and civilizes him. Vampires, werewolves, dangerous outlaws, etc. All powerful figures that the protagonist turns against their violent nature and toward a relationship with her.

>>19793831
>and women love that for some reason
I get that, I am totally into anything with a Succubus after all

feeling a bit of scifi after finishing mass effect trilogy
what are some books that are similar to them in vibes, cultural mish mash, big citadel center, and mostly peaceful amongst each other

>>19793888
>mostly peaceful
The Culture series, maybe?

>>19793906
I just put that there because I want to read something more grounded and maybe more personal for the protagonist instead of reading about space ship battles and intergalactic warfare, conflicts are fine as long as they're between individuals

>>19793882
guess it holds some weight, if you read the old viking nordic sagas the role of the women or wives is sometimes about pushing the men into doing stuff like taking revenge and so on, sort of holding a part of their mans influence in their hands. At least that came to my mind.

>>19793707
You mean the US cover? I had only seen the UK cover and thought it looks cool.

Inchoroi are hard rapists and bakkerchads love that for some reason

>>19794052
Juden petersian did make a good point about hard gays loving hard men and their dominance over other, they like it curved and they love it rough.

are there any books I can read to learn to properly critique a book?
I want to contribute, but my thoughts of books after finishing them are often just one line comments like I liked it, or I didn't like it

>>19786163
So, I thought people were being unfair with the memes because the books are really great, but Neuropath also has a nerdy professor self insert who gets cuckolded, opens the plot hook with rape, and ends it with surprise plot twist gay rape....

>>19787900
I read it a long time ago. It's good. Probably better if you like Jap shit.

>>19788592
No, his insert is that fat cuckold pining after a whore.

Please...
just one decade of no cuckolding and rape...

>>19788592
No. On rethinking the books, I am pretty sure that is the villain.

>>19791468
Bump

>>19788898
It's the Nag Hammadi Library, chuddy.

>>19793503
I wonder how Watts feels about his old buddy B*kker. I wonder if they still chat, or if they've become estranged. I wonder if Richard cucked Watts that night, pic related.

are male protagonists a dying trend?
why won't authors pander me and my autism...

>>19793882
>>19793938

Man as actor, woman as seer is the common archetype.

Women aren't as burdened with the drive to reproduce at any/the easiest cost, because attempting reproduction is so easy for them, find any man and in ten minutes you have an opportunity to progress your genes, even if suboptimal. Men have to struggle for even a suboptimal match, rape aside (intra-culture rape is barred in almost-every culture except in conquest, the reason for this is that conquest proves the better male genes, so the conquered women are forfeit).

So, with that being the case, women's map of the world is likely more clear for longer-term lineage-level goals. They want to drive action that secures their lineage into the future, men are simply focused on individual single-step reproductive security.

So the heroic actor, the man, braves the unknown (judging chaotic female) at the beck of the heroic female's sight/judgement/divine reward(a successful lineage, ensuring 'eternity'). The evil, chaotic, or /demonic/ man, spurns the vision of the heroic female and acts in the efforts of the the churning chaotic feminine, focused entirely on sating natural, chaotic, basic urges and letting the heavenly future rot.

In this schema, dueling cultures are simply men fighting over different distributed feminine-determined value-structures. Fracture the feminine value structure, and the men fall into chaos, disharmony, and infighting.

>>19794224
B*kker the C*cker of authors

>>19794237
Girls read more, authors aren't impervious to trends, of course they'll pander more to their readerbase

>>19793707
Read the reviews? On Amazon? I would not trust those reviews. Goodreads? Nope.

>>19794255
>reducing all human motivation to the mundane logistics of reproductive efficiency
How very modern of (You).

>>19794287
sure, but several reviews saying the book is basically porn can be helpful

>>19794288
Not efficiency. Reproductive success is as ancient as reality and /is/ the measure unceasing, Anon. It is the Judging Eye.

What do you think God is? Morality? Everything you hold dear? We're the rats in the maze, and the future watches keenly.

>>19794288
>not reducing all human motivation to the mundane logistics of reproductive efficiency
How very pozzed of (You).

not thinking of ancient reality and measures unceasing and judging eye?

God when morality? Everything hold rats in maze, futures is keen.

>>19794308
Best post in the thread

>>19786129
Thoughts on Cixin's 3 body problem trilogy? What's the translation like?

>>19794318
no idea, I read it in chinese

>>19794052
(((Inchoroi))) don't rape. Their pets are the mindless rapists and murderers.

>>19794288
We are meat suits that our genes have built to improve their odds of reproduction in an uncertain and hostile environment. Everything we do is built off this fundamental imperative.

>>19794319
Mandarin? I think he's a mainlander. How are the books anyways?

>>19794319
Tiananmen square, etc...

>>19794324
>Their pets are the mindless rapists
so Inchoroi uses the BLACK SEED to breed white w*men? and white bakkerchads read that?

>Ricky, ah, Richard, hm, ah pardon me, R.S. Bakker - (should I perhaps be flattered?), you must understand, dear boy, that I am in fact wholly preoccupied with my own work *lights pipe*, and I simply haven't the time to contend with your 'quibbles', as you put them *chuckles affably*. Despite having passed on, oh, some 40 years ago to sit at the right hand of Eru Iluvatar, I have not, as they say, rested on my laurels, indeed! *blows smoke rings* Why, just this past year another one of my works on the Nature of Middle-Earth was published, and, I must confess wholeheartedly, much of that coupled together from notes I had hastily scrawled on napkins or indeed any bare scrap of paper I could find in an idle hour! I am sure you can relate, yes? *laughs uproariously* Simple stuff, really, the measurement of Elvish life-spans in comparison to our own brief lives, the cosmology and movements of celestial bodies, physical characteristics of the Fellowship, Elvish mating habits (a subject I understand you have some particular interest in, yes?) *winks* As it stands, and to my great regret, any forthcoming discussions between the two of us on the subject of this-or-that will simply have to wait. Before you go, however, how is your own work going? I understand you have enjoyed some moderate success? *blows more smoke rings* Mr. Bakker?

>>19794329
nah, I read it in chinese
if it was an audio book then I would've listened to it in mandarin
book was alright, I liked it up until a very specific point

>>19794318
I liked it, the Dark Forest solution to the Fermi Paradox was an interesting one. I especially appreciated how there were no likable female characters, and that pretty much any woman of consequence screws everything up. Not sure why it gets called hard scifi though, it's really not.

>>19794333
All urban Sranc should be turned into Meat.

>>19794297
You probably got filtered by IT reviews too

>>19794349
by what

>>19794338
If Tolkien is so straight, why is his pipe curved upward at the end? checkmate Tolkientards.

>>19794075
>learn to properly critique a book
Why would you want to engage in Marxist-riddled intellectual masturbation? Either the book was good or it wasn't.

>>19794360
Maybe he forgot to add that he wanted it non-marxist?

are there any non-Marxist books I can read to learn to properly critique a book?

>>19794370
No, now fuck off.

>>19794372
Thanks anon, I will now search on my own.

Recommend non-Marxist, non-masturbatory, non-sjw, non-communist, non-cucked, non-w*men, non-progressive, non-garbage, non-trash, non-romance, non-npc, non-retard, non-conformist, non-pozzed, non-soft, non-((())) and non-mutt fantasy books?

>>19794392
"The Darkness That Comes Before" by Bakker, its grimdark fantasy with philosophy, you will either love it and become a bakkerchad or become soft and write embarrassing reviews about it while getting screenshoted by bakkerchad and laughed at in this general.

Why do people bother leaving negative reviews?

>>19794392
>>19794394
Samefag

>>19794397
To feel publicly humiliated by bakkerchads when they screenshot their review to post it in the famous /sffg/ general.

Should I read eragon

>>19794418
Are you 8?

>>19794421
not american
are they meant for 8 year olds?

Im in love with this book so far. Any similar recs?

>>19794438
yeah, I like this one

>>19794438
whoops forgot to attach

>>19794425
America does live rent-free in your head though.

>>19792989
based

>>19794587
you sound like a fucking schizo, probably american

>>19794595
Please go shitpost in another thread, yellow fingers.

Can anyone recommend this book?

>>19794700
Yes

Can book?

>>19794738
non-book

is there an alternative version of goodreads that isn't so infested with white women

>>19794780
No. I've been looking for ages but I never found one. I just want something like VNDB except for books.

>>19794780
Basedreads

>>19794784
I just looked at the most recommended books of 2021 and the most expected 2022 books and it's all just shit written by women, usually straight white women, about their queerness or their PoCness, and this shit gets fucking lapped up like it's hotcakes.

The one male author I spotted was John Scalzi, who apparently doesn't even use gendered pronouns in his books anymore. God damn.

>>19794800
Yeah it's horrific. There's no way to filter out all the awful teen girl urban fantasy bullshit on any of the sites I've tried.
There's just no effective index for written works, no way to filter by tags. God I'm sick of seeing litRPG garbage everywhere.

>>19794805
I wish I could find a recent fantasy book whose blurb wasn't either
>J'op'rb Osma'deus Blight, only survivor of the Micerrian Ultragenocide, is a hard bastard to his enemies and a harder bastard to his friends, the men who crew his Hard Bastard Mercenaries. King Lackland, they call him, but when an pustule-riddled whore foretells that he can reclaim his lands, the world will come to know his hardness and his bastardry and shudder.
>Sammy Davis is the girl with the worst luck on the planet! Her family's recently moved to a new town, where all the popular girls see her as competition for the local hearthrob, Daniel. But one night she comes to realize that Daniel is a demon prince of Belial's Demonic Court, and she the daughter of a renegade angel stuck in an arranged marriage to Michael, an angelic prince. Who will she choose???

>>19794800
We need a non-WhiteWomen recommendation center

Recommend non-white women and non-urban fantasy books?

>>19794863
>But one night she comes to realize that Daniel is a demon prince of Belial's Demonic Court, and she the daughter of a renegade angel stuck in an arranged marriage to Michael, an angelic prince. Who will she choose???

#teamDaniel

>Memories of Ice was originally meant to be the second book in sequence, following Gardens of the Moon. Erikson had already written about three hundred pages of the new book when they were lost to a computer failure. He went on to write Deadhouse Gates next instead

That explains a fucking lot, I must be a masochist for continuing this endeavour

can anyone rec this book

>>19793888
read the mass effect books by drew karpyshyn, he was the lead writer in the games and the books are really fun

>>19795062
deadhouse gates is the worst fantasy book I have ever read, took me about 6 months to get through it and dropped the series right after that.

>>19795063
I recommend that book

>>19795079
t. triggered by the ending

>>19795076
>reading novelizations

>>19795154
its not a novelization, ie its not about the events depicted in the games. the lead writer is simply expanding on the world and Shepherd isn't even in it as far as I remember

>>19795173
>don't worry bro, it's not a novelization, it's just an official fanfic

>>19795062
>>19795079
Deadhouse Gates did have that kino with the Coltaine and the Chain of Dogs though, that was a great storyline
Overall, I think I regret reading through Malazan it was a bit too convoluted

How's the Lightbringer series? Is it like a western xianxia or something?

>>19795319
>lightbringer
It's just garbage. I don't even care that Linkara made it public domain, it's inherently a bad idea and there's no saving it no matter who added to the series.

>>19793526
interesting

Is this really the best fantasy we can get in 2021

>>19795319
Do not read anything by Brent Weeks ever

>>19795386
shit lit
it's what the girls crave

>>19795386
The future is female, bigot.

Have just finished to read Drifting Classroom as >>19792956 had suggested, I am a bit confused to say the least with how the events happened, especially since Otomo tried to bomb a school with himself in it (Or the whole aspect of a child makeshifting a time traveling bomb; the reason why they got stuck in the future.) Also, one of the teachers just randomly began to kill everyone else after hearing 'we are in the future' I couldn't tell the reasoning for that, it feels like people just get bit with the psychopathic bug in this series.

Anyone else has Sci-Fi lit to suggest? something like Voyagers? Or anything like Star Trek with people of varying ages?

reminder that even if modern goodreads and editorial sheaningans weren't pozzled you should be reading very little recent stuff anyway. search for older things, let time sort the good from the bad

>>19787135
Share the name please.

>>19795386
Tolkien, Wolfe and Bakkerbros...

>>19795182
There's a lot of Mass Effect fanfic that's better than those novels. Worst books I've ever finished by a big margin, and I'm not proud I did it.

>>19795524
>3 old presenting cis-white male identifying writers
Yikes

>>19795567
Can you point me their way? Love Mass Effect 1 and the setting, so many great stories that could fit in it but they focused the rest of the series (and even the comics and such) into GI Joe tier Cerberus action schlock

>>19795510
I feel like I'm missing out on all the discussions and hype if I have to wait 10 years.

>>19795754
Tell that to GRRM and Rothfuss

>>19795586
Sorry, I haven't read any in 10 years, and saying fanfic is better than Kai Leng pissing in Cheerios because racism isn't saying a lot.

>>19791468
No thoughts on this book

>>19795569
at least they were non-sjw and non-pozzed, unlike w*men authors who write sjw and pozzed books.

>>19795513
Literally called "My Balls".

Is Gene Wolfe a fraud? Are there solutions to the puzzles he writes in his books, or is he just tormenting us with illusions?

>>19795960
It's all elaborate nonsense and his fans are in the joke to have a laugh at the confused exoterists.

>>19795989
I suspected as much. But I'm also not sure if it detracts from the books.

>>19796006
Cooking up goofy theories is the fun. You win if you manage to convince someone not to read Wolfe because his works sound difficult to understand, even though there is nothing to understand: the Seal of Pas is just a bunch of numbers, Latro is just braindamaged, the five heads are limbs+penis and Able is actually a standard wishfulfillment isekai protagonist.

I just finished chapter 18, I have no fucking idea what this shit is talking about half the time.

>>19795960
That's like saying Conan Doyle is a fraud because he doesn't tip the solution to every Sherlock Holmes mystery or Hirano is a fraud because we never actually know if Walter actually wants to fuck Alucard.

>>19796152
You're not supposed to.

>>19796153
no, it's really not

Which old Star Trek paperbacks are worth reading? A shop near me has boxes full of them for $2 each. They have Doctor Who ones too, but I'm less interested in those unless they're vary highly recommended.

>>19786884
Paradise Lost, Jerusalem Delivered, Beowulf?

This book felt 3/4 baked; I liked it, but the pacing felt inconsistent as hell.

>>19796152
I only understood the books after reading the Urth of the New Sun. Actually no I understood only after reading some reddit summary.
And I forgot most of what it's about. It was probably a big waste of time.

>>19790966
There will be another at the start of the next thread.

>>19793443
>what fantasy is
The language of imagination

>>19794075
Assess how you felt about it and write that.

>>19794237
Because capitalism/market viability. If you want to read them, then you'll have to venture outside the realm of profit.

>>19794397
Why wouldn't they? It sounds like you want a safespace hugbox cuddlepuddle.

>>19794784
What's wrong with the tag system?

>>19796384
>It was probably a big waste of time.
For you.

>>19796187
Worth reading? If that's what you enjoy, sure.
Paying? Surely not.

>>19795754
Discussions of the most popular works endure forever. Also,
>implying there would be any discussion in general here anyway

>>19795386
Best for whom? Not you. Why care about it then?

>>19795785
the point
____________
your head

>>19786236
Because you can 100% self-insert without the slightest difficulty?

>>19786347
Don't post this again.

>>19788076
Out the way? No one even knows you exist, so no one's in your way.

>>19788566
Yes, yes, you would be. Don't lie to yourself.

>>19795062
>when they were lost to a computer failure
So this is the power of professionalism.

I liked it, it was alright. Has anyone else read the other books?

>>19796900
Size Queen Demon Cunny.

>>19796900
While there are those who read this sort of utter trash, good luck finding them.

>>19796900
Was about to get it. Is it worth it?

>>19796279
Would read this review again, twice.

>>19796900
>>19796907
>>19796926
So this is the power of cooming.

>>19793310
>>19793125 here. I didn't mean to say this passage was bad, it was just unexpected. I'm enjoying the sequels as much as the original trilogy.

>>19796949
Then you're doing it wrong.

>>19796900
fug, I was preparing to read that tomorrow....

New thread
>>19796953

>>19796954
>>19796900
>>19796926
So much sameposting

>>19796945
>>19796911
I haven't read that series but schlocky smut can be nice sometimes. I wouldn't knock any books solely because it's self-published self-insert harem power fantasy shit. I'd knock most of them for a thousand other reasons, but when I stumble on one with a premise I like I'll read it. It's short and free, what's the harm?

>>19796972
>what's the harm
The harm is believing there isn't harm.
This speaks to a far larger problem in your life.

>>19796972
>It's short and free, what's the harm?
Nothing, but pseuds will say otherwise.

>>19796949
>I'm enjoying the sequels as much as the original trilogy.
Thats... interesting to say the least. Did yoy read his other works prior to this?

>>19786673
I'm on book two and Megaera is the author's waifu or some shit.
Wizard side character:"Why don't you treat your raging bitch of a wife with more respect, she would enjoy it even though she has given literally no indication."
Main character:"wow maybe I should treat my bitch of a wife I was forced into marrying with more respect, thanks wizard dude for enlightenment on empowering women."
The author is a faggot

>>19790479
>t.newfag

LOVING this so far. Any similar recs? Its got everything I look for in a book

>>19795960
The solutions to the puzzles are the friends you made along the way.

>>19793526
Are you by any chance familiar with the SaGa series?