/lit/ - Literature

King of /sffg/.

Simple as.

>>19870148
Life's biggest question: Do you let Bakker fuck your ass so you can be more like him, or do you fuck his ass so that he can have more of what he likes best in this world?

When you guys read a series do you take a break between books and read something short or just plow through it normally?

>>19870154
Already seething.

>>19870155
Depends on how I'm feeling. I typically plow through unless it's a very long series.

>>19870155
Sometimes I'll take a break in the middle of a book to start another or read short stories.

>>19870155
When I read Malazan last year I had intended to take breaks between volumes, bit around book 5 I said fuck it and barreled through the whole series one after the other.

>>19870155
If there's a time skip, most definitely. I like to savor my time reflecting on what I've just read.

>>19870158
Don't talk with dick in your mouth.

>>19870174
I loved the gay characters in that series.

>>19870175
They love you too

>>19870155
I almost always drift off into some other book/series in between, otherwise I burn out. It sometimes surprises me how much you remember after picking up a series after a 3-4 month break.

I plan on giving this a spin soon. I have no clue who most the authors are, and anthologies are dubious when it comes to quality, so we'll see how it goes.

Book three when?

>>19870188
Hopefully never.

>>19870155
If it's a complete series, I usually plow through it, but if it's an ongoing series I like to take breaks in between books just so the wait for the latest entry doesn't feel so long.

>>19870184
>It sometimes surprises me how much you remember after picking up a series after a 3-4 month break.
Can't remember dick when I'm trying to talk about a book with others and can only come up with inane praise "it's an amazing read!", etc... but yeah, months after putting it down midway or even just a few chapters in I can remember it all with ease when I pick it up, same as you.

Kino. A knight in the 1300’s during the Black Death has to escort this young girl through the countryside while demons try to fuck them up on the way. Ending is fucking awesome. Highly recommend

>>19870148
Incredibly based.

>>19870188
I can't read this shitty typeface

>>19870188
Trash. Tried looking at reviews on good reads and this comes highly recommeded by female readers, a large number of female characters was also mentioned.

>>19870216
Does he at least fuck the young girl?

>>19870243
No he doesn’t
Because she’s an angel

>>19870216
That sounds like a good time, is the knight more gritty soldier or preachy paladin?

>>19870254
Go ahead and spoil me, anon. Why is she on earth?

>>19870254
why then include children characters in adult fiction (assuming it is targeted at adult audiences) ?
I think having children in adult fiction or even in tv and movies is just as bad as having women and romance (to clarify: straight and gay). All these things just ruin the story.

>>19870174
Give me a one sentence pitch on what this book is about.

>>19870259
>>19870261
He starts out as a bandit robbing people and stealing shit, they come up on her farm and kill her horse and his homies are going to rape her but he doesn’t allow it. He’s still a bandit throughout the book he doesn’t become a good guy really I guess.

pretty much Lucifer starts fucking up earth because he thinks god has abandoned it. It’s been a while since I read it but I think it’s basically shes an angel but hasn’t been re awoken yet or some shit like that.

It’s been a while I just wanted to discuss something new here

>>19870155
Plow through it if it's finished because I fucking can.

Plow through it if it's unfinished because I'm addicted to longing for sequels for years.

>>19870154
I let Baker fuck your ass because you're clearly the biggest faggot. Baker's fifty butt fucking scenes are nowhere nearly as gay as your perpetual whining.

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

>>19870284
Sounds like a decent standalone novel, I'll give it a shot.

>>19870284
Sounds similar to Prince of Thorns, hopefully it's less edgy teen and more Black Company.
I'm going to give it a shot.

>>19870296
The Second Apocalypse Series, by R. Scott Bakker. Pretty dense, heavy stuff: an intense blend of historic, philosophical, Tolkienian, and Herbert-esque qualities. I'd say it's probably the best contemporaneous fantasy series out there: but if you really get into it most other fantasies will feel like shit. I don't know if you would like it though, as I couldn't even get through the first Malazan book.
Another cool one Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun, though again it's not one that I think would be considered popular, and it might be difficult to get into initially.
Watership Down was great when I read it Freshman year, but I don't know how good it'd be if I returned to it today. I still love the story and everything.
The Scar, by China Mieville, is a light and entertaining read. Lots of interesting concepts, though in many instances Mieville's writing feels more like a showcase of worldbuilding than actual being story-centered.
I still haven't finished the Earthsea book. The writing is very passive, very slow, dry, and essentially dead. It's like reading a corpse. The prose mutilates any chance of the world coming alive at all.
PROTIPS: Avoid everything by FEIST and RA SALVATORE at all costs.

>>19870277
From official desription:
And a great demon of the world that acts as his heart pleases!

>>19870294
>can't spell the name right anymore
I'm getting to you already?

>He thinks that there's only one of us.

>>19870301
>Black Company.
Speaking of, what was Cook thinking with Port of Shadows? It was a completely unnecessary entry in the series which ultimately didn't matter. I liked The Lady larping as not Japanese though.

>>19870329
>Port of Shadows
....
I'm going to just crawl out from under my rock for a minute and go read that and pretend I didn't not know it was a thing until just now.
4 years I've been missing this? well I feel less bad about that, Soldiers Live was old enough to drink and join the army itself.

>>19870341
>4 years I've been missing this?
You didn't miss anything, If your favorite thing about The Black Company is The Lady and Croaker romance then you might enjoy it. Otherwise, you can continue pretending it doesn't exist.

>>19870352
>If your favorite thing about The Black Company is The Lady and Croaker romance then you might enjoy it.
It is up there on the list of things I enjoyed.
But personally, Soul Catcher was the best girl.

>>19870301
It’s definitely an adult book, very grim
>>19870299
I hope you like it

>>19870377
>It’s definitely an adult book, very grim
That is good, I'm in the mood for mature writing instead of trying to empathize with hormones I haven't had a struggle with for well over a decade =P

>>19870381
>=P
We Reddit now.

>>19870383
I have been using the likes of =P and XD since before reddit was a glimmer in a millenials eye!

>>19870381
>trying to empathize with hormones
So you take hormones? That explains a lot.

>>19870389
cringe

I only read the first Black Company book years ago, should I read more?

>>19870399
No

>>19870399
Yes.

>>19870392
Yikes

>>19870399
>I only read the first Black Company book
I'm jealous of you, I wish I could read it all again for the first time.
Especially with the chance to binge the entire series without years of waiting for the next one to come out.

>>19870399
Definitely finish the Books of The North and the Silver Spike. If you want more then read the rest, otherwise, the story pretty much wraps up there.

>>19870399
Read Bakker instead.

>>19870420
I am not a homosexual or a tranny

>>19870420
Yeah, I just might. It has been quite a while since I've read the Black Company anyway. And I really don't want to read the first book.

Where should I start, the prince of nothing, right?

>>19870413
Jesus, anon. How old are you?

>>19870428
Start with The Darkness that Comes Before. It's a 7 book series, so far. The first part is the trilogy in pic related.

>>19870436
That artwork is fucking amazing. Truly a shame that you don't see a lot of book covers like these anymore. That's the Canadian edition, right?

>>19870433
I've never read the Black Company, but it have women soldiers?

Handball is a Therin pastime, as cherished by the people of the southern city-states as it is scorned by the Vadrans in
their kingdom to the north (although Vadrans in the south seem to love it well enough). Scholars belittle the idea that
the game had its origin in the era of the Therin Throne, when the mad emperor Sartirana would amuse himself by
bowling with the severed heads of executed prisoners. They do not, however, deny it out of hand, for it is rarely wise
to underestimate the Therin Throne’s excesses without the very firmest sort of proof.
Handball is a rough sport for the rough classes, played between two teams on any reasonably flat surface that
can be found. The ball itself is a rubbery mass of tree latex and leather about six inches wide. The field is
somewhere between twenty and thirty yards long, with straight lines marked (usually with chalk) at either end. Each
team tries to move the ball across the other side’s goal line. The ball must be held in both hands of a player as he
runs, steps, or dives across the end of the field.
The ball may be passed freely from player to player, but it must not be touched with any part of the body below
the waist, and it must not be allowed to touch the ground, or possession will revert to the other team. A neutral
adjudicator, referred to as the “Justice,” attempts to enforce the rules at any given match, with varying degrees of
success.
Matches are sometimes played between teams representing entire neighborhoods or islands in Camorr; and the
drinking, wagering, and brawling surrounding these affairs always starts several days beforehand and ends when the
match is but a memory. Indeed, the match is frequently an island of relative calm and goodwill in a sea of chaos.

>>19870433
I'm over 30

>>19870422
Nice.

>>19870422
Then you'll probably enjoy it.

>>19870145
Has anyone read lit on the Alien series? I know of comic-style novels that explore a different canon than the films but the more cartoonish it gets the less interested I become. Although a meta analysis of the series and not within the fiction, Alien and Philosophy looks like a pretty interesting read. Whenever I consider the original film, I foremost remember the synth's description of the xenomorph as, "the perfect organism...A survivor... unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality." The conversation with the dying synth in general was always profoundly though provoking and this specific line has always had a particular electricity to it, unavoidably calling to mind Nietzsche and his concept of will to power. Its interesting to view the xenomorph as humanity's foil in this sense, being the antithesis to its perceived shortcomings in moral mediocrity. Any discussion of the Alien series is welcome.

https://youtu.be/VA8jv1M6Y2g

>>19870525
Really interesting, thanks anon. I have nothing to add because I’ve only ever seen the first 2 movies and played Alien Isolation.

>>19870155
I always take a break, not even between books in a series but between authors.

Otherwise you get obsessed

I fell for the Bakker meme and I’m 20% into TDTCB and I’m considering dropping it. Like how the fuck am I supposed to read this shit? It drops a reference to yet another person or religion or dead fuck or alive fuck or location about 88 times a chapter. Do I just power through and ignore the shit? I guess I’m just having trouble making any connection to this world, because it’s not giving me a chance to, and then there’s like 420 sentences of sprawling philosophy or whatever the fuck between every interaction. I thought I’d absolutely love it during the beginning, when Kallus is chased by Sranc and he meets the No-God guy or whatever he was. But then it’s just like wordswordswords

Is it clearly not for me or is it just an exceptionally slow and wandering start? The last part I was at is where the protagonists faggoty boyfriend gets fucked up by I don’t even know, I guess he prayed or some shit and then some bird with a human head beat him up through some guard he brainwashed? Was that the consulate people who haven’t been seen in centuries?

>>19870525
I loved the multi-cast Alien audible originals :-3 uwu

Based

Any recommendations for a book/series primarily about a father and his young daughter? The setting and plot can be whatever, so long as the synopsis can sell me on it. No pedo and/or incest shit please.

Have one on the way and am feeling sentimental. Want to read something that I can connect with on an personal level fairly soon.

Hello /sffg/, I've been plowing through PKD's bibliography and I'm wondering if anyone has some advice on where to go from here. My favorites were Three Stigmata and Ubik. Valis was great too, helped that I've been around internet spergs long enough that I could easily follow what he's on about. I really wanted to like A Maze of Death and A Scanner Darkly more. A Scanner Darkly is a good book n all but it's one of those few cases where the movie is legitimately better than the original novel. A Maze of Death tho i have the most mixed feelings about, i really enjoyed the atmosphere of malaise and unreality and mutual distrust among the group, really loved the image of that lone building out in the middle of an empty planet. I just wish the focus of the story had been more on the mystery of the building rather than the murders.
Anyway anyone got some recommendations for more 'psychedelic' scifi beyond PKD?

>>19870991
daisy’s destruction

>>19871012
What is this thing?

>orcs find the fellowship because boromir goes on an autistic rant about gross gondiums
ell fucking mao

>>19870819
Yea it starts getting better after Kellhus comes back into the scene which is part 4 I think. I’d say make use of the appendices in the back of the book it has all the names and shit

>>19870823
Which ones do you recommend there’s like 10 aliens audible

>>19870819
>Is it clearly not for me
It clearly isn't. Stick to comic books, my dude.

>>19870329
>Speaking of, what was Cook thinking with Port of Shadows?
Money. Also, he had plans for more books, but script got stolen or something so nothing's happened since. Interquel like PoS was, like you said, entirely pointless.

>>19870819
Literally me three months ago, I'm on book 6 now (yeah I'm slow reader sue me). Just power through it it will get way better, all TSA books get better in the second half, Bakker is the master of building up hype and delivering a crescendo finale. If you're totally lost there's a full 100 page lore appendix in the end of the third novel.

>>19870399
I really liked the first one, but I got like half way through the second and dropped it.
I think the problem was that it feels like most people in the company have ridiculous plot armor.
I wouldn't be surprised if some important people died, but I got kind of put off by almost everyone important surviving at the end of the first book.

>>19870819
> It drops a reference to yet another person or religion or dead fuck or alive fuck or location about 88 times a chapter.
Yeah it's annoying. Other aspects of the books make it worth it.

These will help:
- A map like this one https://i.imgur.com/mDLt2ys.jpeg
- Glossary at the end of the book. There's a much more extensive glossary at the end of the third book, with some spoilers
- Start of each book has a good summary of what happened in the previous ones

>>19870416
I wish we got to see more what happens in the North after the Silver Spike, though. It was a major upset.

>actually having trouble with fantastical names, events and settings
Allowing peasant animals to become "literate" was a mistake on par with the emancipation of women, tbqh.

>>19871442
But it's like history all over again, anon. I never liked it in school.

>>19871456
Yeah, and that leads to another problem with today's society. Your kind doesn't belong in schools in the first place. Stay in your shit fields, cattle.

>>19871442
Stop making low-effort posts

>>19870819
>Another one gets filtered
Many such cases.

>>19871407
Darling lives boringly ever after with her faggy boyfriend and all the characters you liked are either dead or well on their way to not India.

>>19871868
>and all the characters you liked are
But Silent is one of the characters I like.

Anyone read Anthony Ryan? I thought Blood Song was great. Excellent protagonist, followed him from boyhood to manhood in a brutal monk order that ostensibly defended the faith and the realm, but really was manipulated by the king into waging war on a neutral neighbor. Lots of time spent during adolescence in the order, really hammering home how hard life is for them. The sequels are kind of shitty, the magic system is completely explained and nothing is left to the imagination, protag's characterization I felt was a bit mishandled. Also the POV switching was a bit much.
Unfortunately, he liked it so much that he put it into his next trilogy, the Draconis Memoria, which was even worse, almost exclusively because LITERALLY every single chapter ends with a cliffhanger. I'm not even joking. Every single chapter in every single book of the Draconis Memoria ends in a cliffhanger. Christ. If it wasn't for that, they would be quite good I think.

>>19872087
I read the Draconis series and liked it, but yeah the multi-PoV shit was extremely annoying.

>>19871376
>he had plans for more books, but script got stolen or something so nothing's happened since.
That's a damn shame, but at the same time you're right, going back to the days of lady and her armies is not the story I'm interested in. I want to know about the the other companies, the history of the land they came from, etc...
A hisotry book from croakers new pov just laying out bulletin points for this world would be awesome, doesn't need any actual character driven story, just an in-universe history book for us to enjoy the rest of the world building.

>/sffg/ - Science Fiction and Fantasy General
Can some mods merge all the bible threads into this one

>>19872107
xD

What's the best /sffg/ book you read last month? Mine was Foundation

>>19872123
The Great Ordeal.

>>19872130
Go suck his dick you empty headed nonce.

>>19872098
There were definitely aspects of it that I liked, but when I realized that every single chapter ended in a cliffhanger, I started going back and reading the ends of previous chapters, just to make sure I wasn't going insane.
The term "Blood Blessed" is just fucking cool, even if Lizanne is a stupid bitch mary sue. Clay and Hilemore are much more interesting. Referring to drake blood as "product" to hammer home the corporatocracy world was also genius. It's something I could picture real corporations doing if they found out that magical creatures could be exploited for their blood's mystic properties. If only he knew how to end a chapter more than one way.

>>19872130
I'm reading the GO right now. And holy fucking shit, it's absolute KINO.

>>19872130
>>19872144

>>19872107
The Bible is genuinely a good book if you just treat it as fantasy. It's better than most modern tropey fantasy books. The issue is that it's impossible to appreciate it without dragging in all the cultists.

>>19872189
>The issue is
The issue is that you have to translate it into modern conversable english for yourself a line at a time as you read it.
It COULD be a good (not great) story if it were a fluid read.

What the hell is wrong with Stephen King?

>>19872252
The man is a has been that writes young adult novels and somehow passes them off as mature horror.
A feat that could not be accomplished outside of north america, his success is a direct result of illiteracy in the general population.
He jumped the shark when he wrote his characters saving him from a car crash.

>>19872252
Fetal alcohol syndrome.

>>19870819
This is the largest problem with the book. It is too much of an info dump. Fantasy is one thing, but this book is not enjoyable. I would just drop it.

>>19870819
The characters are flat, unengaging, and sound alike. Even the women sound like the men. There is no real clear to what some of the characters look like. The world is filled with large words, there is no clue how to pronounce them. It feels like there are six levels between the action of the book and reader, so the reader is totally unattached to anything.

>>19872383
>there is no clue how to pronounce them
Which words don't you know how to pronounce, and why is that so critical for you?

>>19870819
I got filtered by all the umlauts. Or feeling compelled to read them like umlauts. I dropped the first book 50 pages in because of that

>>19870819
Horrid writing...I was totally confused reading the first chapter. When I pick up a novel for the first time, please, for the love of God, start slowly, describe the main character and the setting. Trying to let the characters name and making vague references to a the Apocalypse is so vague as to be unhelpful. Not to mention, the prose was so hackneyed and trite that I had difficulty reading it.

>>19872331
>>19872383
The name droppings of all the different places and people are meant to evoke a sense of scale and history and diversity without actually sitting down and writing 50000 pages of lore dumps. You're not supposed to recognize these people or place, let alone memorize them, that you can't is the whole point of them being there in the first place. The important names will reoccurr and you will start to learn those organically.

It's a style of building a world by alluding to its presence and it works very well if you contrast it with the bland trash you're probably used to that doesn't drop a single name or place that doesn't matter to the story.

Going back to those kinda of books after bakker is hard because they feel so synthetic and empty and small.

>>19872531
>blah blah blah you should be reading about queers and trannies fucking!
Fuck off.

>>19872331
Some joke write themselves.

>>19872531
Why are you talking to animals, anon?

>writing science fiction
>almost everything depicted could be done today

Am I doing it right or wrong? I'm losing track

>>19872643
>B-but muh "Too many names", muh "every place sounds the same", muh "prose is too complex".

>>19872643
>>19872705
They are right you know

>>19872717
To a brainlet like you, perhaps.

>>19870819
>>19872531
It took sheer force of will and several consultations of Wikipedia lists of factions/nations/religions/magic schools/leaders for me to make it through this book. While technically possible to figure this universe out from context alone, I could not appreciate the subtleties of the diplomacy, power plays, and manipulations of faith occurring when asking "Who is some unintroduced and unexplained new character?" every other page. Bakker seemed determined to keep the very rich back story of his universe in his head instead of writing it down on paper. Leaving some pieces for readers to figure out on their own is not the same as forcing them on a mental archeological dig to figure out every unpronounceable proper noun.

>>19872734
>Bakker seemed determined to keep the very rich back story of his universe in his head instead of writing it down on paper.
And that's a good thing.

>>19872331
>It is too much of an info dump
Quite to opposite desu.

>>19870819
I tried to read this but the beginning is just so meh. I hear it gets considerably better after the first 100 or so pages but getting there felt like a chore so this is going back on the shelf unfinished. Also the amount of tell in this book was unsettling.

>>19870819
if you ever stumble upon this terrible book, drop it. i'd say more, but i sum up my opinion on this book with one word : bad. and with a few more words : bad that thinks it's good. the book is just terrible.
i never read beyond it, and never intend to read anything this lousy author has to offer.
i also don't feel the need to elaborate , i just offer my opinion.

You guys gotta use the appendices in the back of the book it has all the names and pronunciations. Locations, factions, all the main ones that you need are there.

>>19870819
It's rare for me to read one book and have no desire to finish the series. I was so glad when I finished this book that I had no thought of reading more. It was long, boring, and filled with characters I did not care about. I was very disappointed, because I love epic fantasy and the summary sounded interesting. The jacket recommended for fans of George R R Martin, but I do not.

>>19870819
>13 replies already.
>Imagine being this aggravated over a book.

>>19870819
If you've ever stumbled upon this amazing book, keep going. I would say more, but I can sum up my opinion on it in one word : KINO. And with a few additional words : Great and deep, just like Bakker's curved phallus. The book is amazing.
I've read the entire series, and intend to read everything that Bakker has to offer.
I also don't feel the need to elaborate anymore, it's just my opinion :).

>>19872808
The mexican just woke up.

>>19870819
>I fell for the Bakker meme and I’m 20% into TDTCB and I’m considering dropping it.
Not my problem.
>Like how the fuck am I supposed to read this shit?
Your eyes.
> It drops a reference to yet another person or religion or dead fuck or alive fuck or location about 88 times a chapter.
What did you except? Your average Shonen Jump?
>Do I just power through and ignore the shit?
Again, not my problem.
>I guess I’m just having trouble making any connection to this world, because it’s not giving me a chance to, and then there’s like 420 sentences of sprawling philosophy or whatever the fuck between every interaction.
There is literally little to no philosophy in the book. What the fuck are you on about?
>I thought I’d absolutely love it during the beginning, when Kallus is chased by Sranc and he meets the No-God guy or whatever he was. But then it’s just like wordswordswords
Yes, books are made of words.
>Is it clearly not for me or is it just an exceptionally slow and wandering start?
The beginning is fine, it's your attention span that's not.
>Consulate
The absolute state of low IQs attempting to read Bakker.

>>19870819
I never finished this book, actually I never finished the first chapter.

I couldn't read this book it was like the author grabbed a thesaurus and picked out vocabulary that would have even made Jerome Shostak have to look it up!
It made me hate the author...it felt arrogant, high handed and pissed me off.

*shivers*

Based autist endlessly advertising the greatest living fantasy author.

>>19870819
This was a disappointment. I generally like epic fantasy, but this author is convinced that having absolutely no exposition is perfectly okay when creating a world. It's not. If there are 8 different countries and nationalities, a few nobles, a few peasants, 12 different factions within each nationality, 5 different schools of magic, 3 different major religious beliefs, some humans, some not humans (maybe?) and all these things are named with the most un-familiar sounding tripe names you can imagine (even for fantasy) then you gotta give the reader *something* to serve as a guide to what the fuck is going on.

I hate Wolfe

>>19872905
>Imagine being so ass-blasted that your only course of action is copy/pasting goodreads reviews.

Kek

>>19870819
Unfortunately, The Darkness that Comes Before never quite makes the leap from being a good idea to a good story. I think there are two central problems holding it back. The first is an issue that is starting to become problematic in the world of post-George R.R. Martin fantasy: the idea that increased “grittiness” equates with increased “reality.” I honestly think that that's a kind of terrible assumption to make as an author, and a kind of perplexing one. Martin’s world isn’t realistic because it’s gritty, it’s realistic because characters who can commit acts of cruelty or cowardice are frequently also capable of immense kindness, and because scenes of violence bump up against scenes that are heart-warming or funny. It’s a realistic world because it covers a wide range of emotions and acknowledges that they can manifest themselves in the same places and same people, even if they’re contradictory.

That’s where Bakker’s book fails. His characters are gritty, sure, but they’re also really flat. With the possible exceptions of Achamain and Cnäiur, everyone fits pretty neatly into the categories of sociopath, people verging on the brink of insanity, single-minded religious zealots, and a vast horde of people who aren’t clever enough to avoid being manipulated by them. (view spoiler) It’s probably the most relentlessly dour book that I have ever read, to the point where Bakker’s world starts to feel fundamentally unrealistic. No one is ever happy or kind, they just brood ominously, hysterically lash out and other people, or attempt to move others around like chess pieces. It’s the polar opposite of a fantasy novel where everyone is flawlessly noble and heroic, but that doesn’t make it innovative or original – it just makes it a different flavor of one-dimensional. It makes the whole book and whole world feel tinny, and it’s a flaw that no number of linguistic trees in the appendices can really overcome

>>19870216
>medieval last of us
no thanks.

>>19872276
That's just his cocaine face.

>>19872643
>>19872705
>>19872922
>y-you don't understand. more irrelevant names and localities means only brained gentlesirs like myself are able to penetrate the workings of the master himself

>>19870819
Unfortunately, while the first book starts off with a lot of promise, the series eventually got tiresome in the middle of the second book. Every character ends up getting constantly degraded, often sexually, without any redemption or triumphs of even learnings. This book was billed as philosophical fantasy fiction, but I don't really see it. It does not wrestle with any of the great themes of philosophy other than perhaps the post-modern facination with suffering without purpose or meaning. Yes there is a quest, but the quest leads all of the characters through a meat grinder that tears them up, breaks them down and degrades them. I stopped reading in the middle of the second book. I would say now not to waste your time by reading the first one and getting interested.

>>19872545
Ain’t no queers or trannies there. Well I guess cnauir is a repressed homo or something. There is a lot of rapealiens/rapedemons too.
Ain’t no trannies there.

>>19872922
>unfamiliar sounding names
Many are rooted in European and Near East-sounding names, they were by far the easiest part to get used to if you have any knowledge of ancient history. Way better than some of the fantasy or scifi gobbledygook that authors come up with. Looking at you, Iain Banks.

>>19873166
To be fair, skin spies do have a phallus.

>>19873166
>there is no gay!
>except for the gay and the other gay
lmfao

>>19873222
Not an argument. Can you point any specific instance in the series where gay things that trouble you happen?

I'm about to start this novel. I kinda enjoyed the ending of Foundation and Earth with the robot on the moon overseeing how the galaxy progressess and trying to justify the superiority of Gaia theory.

>>19873260
Asimov is a hack.

>>19873260
Me too. Good payoff.
I read PtF after too and was let down. Pretty dull

>>19873258
Why would I read a queer author in the first place? Plenty of authors where buttsex is not an issue.

>>19870991
I've never read The Witches of Karres but I think it's about a guy helping three little girls. I don't know if that's what you're looking for.

>>19873294
So you're talking about a book you've never read.

I'm glad we cleared that out.

>>19872964
He has FAS, guaranteed. Also accounts for his predisposition for addiction. And yet despite all that, he managed to shit out lousy horror books that made him one of the most recognizable modern authors.

>>19873298
because you bakkerfaggots have admitted numerous times that he writes actual queer sex.
I have to thank you for the warning because I'm not reading an author who does that.

>>19873331
>And yet despite all that
Possibly because of, just smart enough for average consumers to latch on to, but still plenty dumb enough for them to process.

>>19873331
>>19873337
I sincerely do not quite understand how he got so awfully popular. The only good thing to have ever come out of that retard was when he shamelessly shat on Robert Jordan.

>>19872874
based sarl poster

>>19873332
Does it trouble you?

>>19872922
Imagine being the pathetic incel who does this.

Thoughts on Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie?

I'm few pages in and I can't decide if the whole "no-gender so everyone is she" is meant to convey the alien nature of the society or if it's just SJW cringe.

>>19873408
Never heard of. But is going straight into my no-read list.
Thanks.

>>19873408
>or if it's just SJW cringe.
From that one sentence I can already tell this is the one.

Can someone post the GRI chart?

>>19870819
When choosing fantasy books I mainly look for an immersive world filled with magic, interesting characters and a reasonably plausible plot.
But mostly it needs to be entertaining. For intellectually challening and general knowledge expanding books I turn to philosophy and books about (geo)politics.

This clunker of a book however is neither nor. It is wordy wihout telling anything interesting, its characters are in no way likeable let alone exciting and it takes itself far too serious. Take for example the writing style.
I don't mind a bit of showing off when it comes to writing skills, but it should still be easily accessible. This book here on the other hand is just confusing, it in no way resembles how normal people communicate or describe things. Nothing here is PLAUSIBLE. The author could not explain to me why his characters behaved the way they did, why in such a strange way.

Again, if you want some heavy stuff, write and/or read non-fiction stuff.

>>19870819
I devour books and I love Fantasy. I couldn't even finish this book - it was so difficult to read. While the world-building was indeed complex, the character-building left a lot to be desired. I hate to waste money and so I was determined to finish it, but after reading a quarter of the book over several readings, I couldn't take it any more.
9 people found this helpful

>>19873613
We amazon now.

Still mad about being exposed?

I rarely write a review, but if I can save someone else the agony I've gone through with this trilogy, well, I feel a sense of duty. I read. A lot. I had to check back to see if this book was self published, can't believe it was ever seen by an editor. The writing is pompous, clogged with unnecessary detail you won't need later, the names are stupid (this from a fantasy/scifi fan), and the damn thing never ends. I hate not to finish something once I've started, so against my better judgement, I read books two and three since I had already purchased them. NO CONCLUSION. Are you kidding me? I have to read the next three books? No way am I further abusing my brain. I will give the author praise for his prose. He would be a pleasure to read if only he knew how to tell a story. As I said, the names of people and places are ridiculous, and this torturous tome is filled with both, describing individuals and locales you will never see, never hear of again, nor ever care about for any reason whatsoever. Whoever you are and whatever you do, your time is too valuable to spend this these books.

>>19873631
>>19870819

>>19873624
These are real reviews from people that have read the garbage that is Bakker's "Darkness that comes before."

>The Darkness that COMES Before
what did bakker mean by this?

>an AI can write better than Bakker
uh Bakker bros...??

>>19873669
AIDungeon or NovelAI?

Is Bakker aware that his biggest fanbase resides on an racist incel forum?

>>19873693
novel ai

>>19872252
He wrote The Long Walk as Richard Bachman not as himself

>>19873733
>novel ai
I've heard it's getting good, still a couple of years from reaching the levels of AI Dungeon.

>>19873702
he would be proud.

>When your English is so bad that you're forced to post reviews from other websites.

Made it just over halfway through the first book and really gave it a try but the language is pretentious, not much is explained, confusing layout of the lands including character names, all mixed in with meaningless kitchen table philosophy and flowery, cryptic language. This morning I decided to give up on the hollow characters, boring situations, plots and intrigues, dragging story line, i.e., the book does not engage the reader at all, just makes you feel confused and frustrated. This is absolutely not comparable to Martin's books and an insult to his talent. I almost always finish a book; I will not even give this book to someone else and will likely end on my burnpile.

>>19873770
You forgot to mention the poster, again. Are you this tilted?

>>19873770
What the fuck are you on about?

Has anyone read the warhammer vampire Genevieve series?

>>19873781
sneed.

Dance With Dragons is terrible

>>19870233
>Tried looking at reviews on good reads
Why? I wish our group put out more reviews because they generally tend to be decent.

>>19873811
Meme opinion.

Looks like the shit-poster finally gave up.

>>19873880
Bakkerchads win again. Nothing new.

>>19873892
>The
Because a cock obsessed faggot like you can't keep more than one on the brain.

Lots of fantasy is about young adventurers who become great warrior but are there any about wizard and mages who follow the same path?

not harry potter

>>19873770
Remind me again, did I ask?

>>19873641
I would say that no one cares, but your flood-posting is unironically making me want to read Bakker. I'm moments away from buying his books. Good job.

>>19874066
>a terrible effort on the part of bakkerfaggot

Umm bakkerbros...what the fuck is this?!

>>19874044
There's a series of books about a gnostic mage who becomes a wizard, forgot the name though

>>19873892
My opinion about all the books writen by Scott Bakker :

1) the books are dificult to read. the english is not outstanding, but the sentense construction is unnecessarilly made complex. Most of the sentences are broken with innumerous commas and punctuations.
2) World building is too vague. A reader needs to have exemplary imagination to understand the topography.
3) war scenes are too brief. A reader loses interest, instead of having that "edge of the seat" excitement feeling while reading the book.
4)Resemblance to previous context is missing. for example: - Even though scarlet spires is the most powerful school in the three seas, they were wiped off like a bunch of rabbits. what a laugh. LOL

In all a very disappointing experience. Thank god, I didnt buy the books but read the books online for free

>>19874117
Skinspies have a curved Phallus. You surely knew that already, no?

>>19874117
It's more of that homoeroticism that your homoerotic novelists fills his homoerotic novels with.

>>19874131
I don't remember asking. But please, no more selfies.

>>19870525
Normally dont bother with the franchise books, but The Cold Forge was breddy good, it could make a decent movie script.

Has anyone here read "Cronache del Mondo" Emerso by Licia Troisi? I almost never see anyone mentioning this series.

>>19874175
No, is it good?

>>19874181
>Female protagonist
>Female writer
>Good

>>19870819
>>19873892
>>19874160
A great premise for a book that ultimately disappoints. Bakker creates a very interesting world, but there are so many names of places, nations, people, religions, and religious figures that its hard to understand whats going on. There are lots of interesting characters, but I cared little for any of them. The plot is slow and often sidetracked by really strange romance novel style scenes.

>>19874115
Learn to write.

>>19874217
that's /wg/ we READ here.
You semen gargling cock sneeze.

>>19874203
Didn't ask faggot.

>>19874175
I don't speak african

>>19870819
I am on page 164 and am going to look for some other book to read. There has not been any action yet. It's all psychological babble. Sorcerers? There has not been any spells cast, no battles.
Boring is the word that comes to mind. Don't waste your time.

>>19874233
Clearly not reading enough.

Learn to write before posting here, retard.

>>19874245
This isn't a shonen manga animefag.

>>19874248
Find an author that knows how to write before posting here, faggot.

>>19874235
Not my problem.

>>19874254
Not mine either. You're the one who replied to me.

>>19874250
A manga novel, though I've never read one in my entire life, would be a better purchase than a Baker novel.

>>19874255
Still not my problem.

>>19874259
>A manga novel
you're not fooling anyone.

>>19874259
Imagine being this retarded.

>>19870819
I hope that this review will appear early on in someone's search for an honest opinion of this series. It is actually horrible. I am an avid reader of speculative fiction and love philosophical forays into deeper questions of existence. The Prince of Nothings series, however, fails miserably at constructing either a coherent story, a single likable character, philosophical significance, or even an enjoyable read.

The plot is mangled with endless references to other places and cultures that are never explained through plot or exposition, leaving the reader to search the appendix for perspective. This works well in other series but in The Prince of Nothing it didn't take long to realize that I just didn't care who the Kuniuri were and just plod on. Also, many of what should be big payoff scenes were not cohesive in any way. In one scene, a character is described as pulling out their own heart but a few sentences later when they set it on fire it was actually someone else's, without a real believable way of how this was achieved. There are literally too many of these disappointments to list.

Next, is the abysmal characterizations. There is rarely ever a believable motivation for any action in the entire series unless it could be that the characters are actually as empty as they feel. One character actually travels an incredible distance (some of it with bare feet after their shoes wear out) just to get to someone they may or may not love, then when they finally see them they actually leave and go whore themselves to a whole camp full of soldiers. Really!!!!! And the sex scenes (of which there many) aren't even any good. I found myself often trying to figure out "why did they do that?" then realizing I flat out didn't care. There was not one single redeemable character that I could feel anything about whatsoever. If the author had developed despicable characters that were interesting or clever I could have enjoyed hating them, but in the end ... Nothing.

Lastly, and most irritatingly, is how this series is somehow touted as an intellectually stimulating or philosophical work. That is just complete B.S. The attempts at deep truths about humanity fail so miserably that it almost made me angry at the pretense. The main character, Kellhus, (who also by-the-way is perfect at everything and can learn anything in the blink of an eye) can manipulate all human beings just because he understands what basically comes down to, wait for it, CAUSE AND EFFECT! BARF!!! All he has to do is spout any flowery cliche and every human tears up and worships his insightful wisdom becoming his puppets. The problem is that there are no arguments made here that feel in the slightest bit profound or even stirring.
(1/2)

>>19874235
Not him, but you did ask.

>>19874286
If you like deep ideas but like it in the form of fiction instead of straight from the great body of purely philosophical works try Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game(It won the Nobel Prize for Literature). It delivers. Or if you prefer complicated engrossing speculative fiction try Dune, Malazan Book of the Fallen, Song of Ice and Fire, Wheel of Time, or any of the several works by competent authors in this genre. I cannot, however, recommend any book in this series to anyone and, unfortunately, I read them all.

FINAL VERDICT: Complete waste of time, money, and paper.

(2/2)

>>19874286
>>19874294
Filtered.

>>19874300
He's copying reviews from goodreads. He's that tilted. Look up the thread, he's on a rampage.

>>19870296
Bakker.

I haven't really been engrossed in a book since I read Mother of Learning a few months back

Is this general permanently ruined now then?

>>19874353
yes, abandon ship

>>19874353
The tranny fucker janitors could do something about it.

>>19874353
It's probably beyond saving at this point. I've never seen it steep this low. And all from an illiterate ESL nonetheless, ironically enough.

>>19874388
>And all from an
Pull your head out of your ass, if you got a problem with the symptom then take it up with the cause.

>>19874066
This desu.

>>19874353
Check the pervious thread. Some schizoid literally said that he will personally make sure that /sffg/ dies.

Insanity Poster is a upright poster of /sffg/, I don't care about his gook book. I don't even like him. But Insanity poster doesn't annoy the fuck out of me like the Bakker cult. He posts one time, answers questions if anyone has any, and SHUTS THE FUCK UP!!!!!!! Because he knows other people use this general and his gook book isn't for everyone. He loves that nigger like you wouldn't believe. I know this, you know this, we all know this. His perseverance to post that shitty anime cover each general is kinda adoring. I say this so bakkerfag can understand the difference between himself and others. Insanity poster doesn't have to sperg out like an insufferable bakker faggot making a new bakker post every 5 minutes when someone wants to discuss something else. Listen Bakkerfag, we know you like the book. WE FUCKING GET IT! There is nothing wrong with it. BUT ITS FUCKING ANNOYING HOW YOU MUCK UP THIS GOD DAMN FUCKING BOARD WITH YOUR TRIPE! You even try to write poetry like the fan boy you are. That's fine. BUT IT'S FUCKING ANNOYING NOBODY THINKS ITS FUNNY OR CUTE YOU FUCKING FAGGOT! It's cringe as fuck. The things I would do to you and your entire family of minecraft players if we ever played on the same server you wouldn't believe. That is the hate I have for you. I even bought fucking Darkness That Comes Before on audible to listen to at some point when I have time, but your fucking screeching and immature, grade-school posts about a book obviously deeper than your brain, has caused me to reach a boiling point and never read or listen to the book at all. If I ever get a Bakker book in my hands, I'm going to tear it to shreds and wipe my ass with it before throwing it into a flaming oven. I hate you bakkerfag poster. I curse you. I want to see your pixelated minecraft life squeezed out with my minecraft hands around your minecraft neck. I'm fantasizing about it and it gives me pleasure just imaging myself exacting revenge for what you have done to /sffg/. I'm fucking crazy, yes, but /sffg/ was one of the few things that gave me comfort in life. You have taken that from me so now I'm going to take everything from you. I'm going to give you a week to either an hero or never post here again and then I'm going to find your minecraft server.

>>19874422
This guy? Jesus Christ. Don't mods care about this?

It's fucking hilarious that Bakker was the one who ultimately broke this cuck's mind, though. Not gonna lie.

>>19874439
Thank you anon for putting my feelings into more articulate words than I can.
Doing gods work!

>>19874439
Whoa there buddy.

>>19874459
>ultimately broke
You think that was me snapping?
You cannot begin to imagine the depths of my potential rage!

>>19874353
It was ruined when the Bakkertrannies kept on posting the same shit for months. This is merely the coup de grâce. Besides people have already started forming their own threads on science fiction and fantasy.

>>19874459
Based, this guy just needs to transcend his anger and see himself as the cleansing fire that purges all the filth. It needn't be personal at that point.

>>19874478
Bakker has been a topic of hot discussion on /sffg/ for years. The memes have mostly either been harmless or outright false flagging. It all started when a number of low IQs literally couldn't read his prose and felt marginalized.

>>19874476
>You cannot begin to imagine the depths of my potential rage!
kek

>>19874501
And I'm not even the one who just posted Soprano face.

>>19874506
I know, buddy. That guy can actually write.

>>19874509
And I'll keep pointing out that this board is for readers, not writers.

>>19874514
Yet, we are all forced to read your shit English.
Ironic.

>>19874478
>their own threads on science fiction and fantasy.
The two shouldn't even be the same general, they are opposites.

>>19874525
They tried to do a sci-fi general, but it simply could not survive. Not enough people.

>>19874523
I dont see your complaints about being forced to read gay shit.
Your insults mean nothing when I know what you have praised.

>>19874525
How old is /sffg/?

>>19874536
Check the archive. But I'd say it's almost as old as /lit/. So somewhere post 2010. Maybe a few years younger.

Did Bakkerites ever try to make their own general? I know the Wolfe fans made a dedicated general for a bit.

>>19874536
Refer to the bottom half of this post
>>/lit/thread/S19775155#p19775174

>>19874560
bakker posters don't care about having a good discussion about the books they love. They only care about making others unhappy.

>>19874533
Gay people don't bother me, at all. I'm not a closet homosexual like you, buddy.

All I did was state the facts. But I'm pleased that you took them as an insult. It means you're hurt.

>>19874569
Whatever happened to the Wolfe pack anyway? Did they move somewhere else or just start reading other stuff once Wolfe died?

>>19874560
Bakker
>>/lit/?task=search2&search_subject=bakker

Wolfe
>>/lit/?task=search2&search_subject=wolfe+general

>>19874571
>I'm not a closet homosexual
You must be if you enjoy reading graphic depictions of it.
Any hetero would at least grimace upon the discovery of any such passage in the books they read.
It's not like the forever war where the men being gay was just a statement of fact and a device to illustrate change over time, no bakker writes full on eroticism, its gay shit for faggots.
So you are a closet fag.

>>19874533
>I know what you have praised.
Big curved Phalluses? Or the Meat? Because you're right on both occasions.

>>19874602
>No you.
So you truly are in the closet.
No wonder you're so enraged.

>>19874599
Is this your way of telling me to look it up myself? I certainly could, but instead I chose to ask the question here in hopes of sparking discussion of some sort. Perhaps even productive discussion.

>>19874616
>reads about gay sex
>calls ME gay

>>19874622
Thread is already derailed so there's no point. Next thread will also be derailed, so again, no point.

>>19874622
Ok, sure. Spin-off generals have historically always failed after a few iterations. There are very few generals on /lit/ that get any posts really. /sffg/ probably is the quickest general on /lit/ by far.

>Reading the bible makes you gay
You heard it here first, lads.

>>19874635
Is there just not that much interest in TSA? Maybe Bakker fans don't actually have all that much to discuss when they aren't flinging shit with detractors in the general.

>>19874653
Have you met their priests?

>>19874655
Why make your own general that may not get enough posts when you can inhabit one that does?

>>19874672
Cause then you could actually discuss the book I guess. Idk, I'd just like to go back to general sff discussion and recommendations. But I think I need to give up. This is my first time back here in months and nothing has changed, except there's less Chinese web-novel discussion this time around.

>>19874704
That's probably only to be expected from specialist discussions, not a general. The average anon doesn't read broadly or in depth. Not much in terms of niche either. What's popular reigns. Most don't want seriously discuss in general for a variety of reasons and those who would have been driven off long ago.

>>19874721
>Most don't want seriously discuss in general for a variety of reasons
Why are we still here? Just to shitpost?

>>19874730
Nice rhetorical question!

>>19874721
Speak for yourself and the mouse in your pocket.

>>19874733
Well... there's only 30 or so posts left before bump limit so Imma just check those dubs and peace out.

Better luck next thread, bye all!

>>19870187
I'll get around to that as well when I get around to it. Possibly within a few months.

>>19874743
*40

>>19874740
You seem to have me confused with Minsc.

Ishuäl, home.

>>19874766
I really dislike this art style. Seems very amateurish.

Namedrop a few meme authors.

>>19874774
>Seems very amateurish.
Because it is?

>>19874776
Why? What's the point?

>>19874780
For the end

>>19874780
There isn't any point.
Embrace nihilism.

>>19874459
Look I admit I posted some reviews from barns and noble, amazon, and good reads. But this guy isn't me.

And to think, all of this could have been avoided if the Bakkertrannies had gone back to their Reddit and discord.

>>19874793
No, not really.

>>19874778
I've hear people excuse it by saying it's a stylistic decision. I know nothing about art but that seemed like cope to me.

>>19874755
You're about as intelligent, I'll give you that.

>>19874766
That guy's artwork is really comfy. Do you know where I can find more?

>>19874823
I got it from some other anon. I can post it here if you like.

Thoughts on Raymond E. Fei?

>>19874852
Just stop, anon. It’s getting pathetic.

"FIRST AND ONLY!" Gauntila (them/they) stormed the SChud meeting. Incels fired from the hip, marching in step as Trump unloaded a wagon full of Reddit into the the air.
"I smell death" Colon Colm Corebitty farted in the general direction as Major Rawnold fumbled his axe wound thath ad formerly been his dick and launched a tirade against Whites.
"We have to die for Diversity" screamed Trooper Mksissy who tok a Chudround to the Dilate and.

>>19874852
Interesting author. I read the comic book adaptations when I was younger. Don't know much else.

>>19874860
Speaking of Warhammer, has anyone read infinite and the divine? I've been looking online for a pdf as I refuse to pay GW money for as long as I live.

>BAKKER
WE ONLY READ HIM
>BAKKER
ANYONE WHO TALKS ABOUT ANYTIHNG ELSE INT HIS THREAD IS A SHILL
>BAKKER
SFFG = BAKKER GENERAL
ALL OTHER FUCKERS GET OUT
GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT

>>19874893
No.

>>19874893
This, but unironically.
>>19874902
Ok, this guy too.

>>19874884
>I've been looking online for a pdf as I refuse to pay GW money for as long as I live.
try using yandex to do these searches instead of google/yahoo/duckduckgo/etc...
it's like the main ones are all colluding together to make easy sharing of free information difficult or something

>>19874929
based Yandex. Google, Youtube, etc have all gone spiraling into unusuable oblivion - and I mean that even for lets say "normal" queries.

>>19874933
>and I mean that even for lets say "normal" queries.
it was the only one out of 26 some odd search engines that did /not/ give me pictures of interracial couples when I searched "white couple" -_-
It was shortly after deciding to make it my main that I also found it was not possible to make it default in most browsers
so now I have epic with default yandex as a scondary browser for whenever I need to find true variety in image results or for finding free pdf's, things of this nature.

>>19874929
First result worked for me, I'd been using DuckDuckGo as I figured they wouldn't try to hide pirate sites. I was wrong. Thank you based anon.

>>19874958
>I'd been using DuckDuckGo
they're just a different frontend for google searches that mostly keeps you private.

>>19874968
They didn't build their own FOSS search engine!?

>>19874884
>pdf
You deserve nothing.

>>19874859
Staying around to tell people how pathetic they are is several times more pathetic. You aren't exempt from your own rhetoric.

>60 posters
Nice, how low will we go for a completed thread?

>>19875045
that's not duckduckgo's purpose, it is only to provide you with some measure of privacy.

>>19873817
Prove me wrong

>>19875077
So it's security theater providing an illusion, ok.

>>19875075
Two threads ago it was almost 120 posters. Can't wait to see how far it will go before /sffg/ dies.

>not subvocalizing when reading fiction

>>19875081
Not possible.

new thread
>>19875093

>>19875094
And it’s already derailed.

>>19875083
Yes, I was also disappointed to read the fine print.

>>19875085
Enjoying disaster, misery, and despair porn is unseemly.

>>19875085
Two threads ago we had proper discussions about books and series.

>>19875099
>And it’s already derailed.

>>19875099
Faggots just can’t help themselves. It’s why /sffg/ is dying.

>>19875253
There are only 8 posters, and I can only assume it's only 3 of them that's shitting up the new thread.

new thread created even before old thread reached bump limit,

>>19875319
Retard

>>19875099
Good

>>19870991
Yotsubato! is weeb shit but it's good weeb shit.

>>19875513
That’s a good manga.

>>19875340
Fuck off you piece of shot.

>>19873295
Never heard of this and the blurb seems interesting enough. I'll give it a shot, thanks.
>>19875513
Completely forgot this existed, but it's perfect. Will also read, thanks.

>>19875513
rip

>>19874044
Earthsea is black Moses to Dumbledore's gay Jesus. Add a few Piers Anthony stories and the last Garrett PI story arc, and you've got the real Harry Potter.