/lit/ - Literature

Bakker Sucks
simple as

>>19944853
first for sanderson

>>19944856
Fpbp
>>19944863
Spwp

Tolkien.

>>19945104
I know it's probably not worth asking, but are any of these worth reading?

>wake up
>realise Ishual got destroyed
>day ruined

>>19945104
This is real fantasy, this is the real lifeblood of the genre in 2022. Everyone else is an industry plant.

>>19945104
>Haremcucks
nyet

I need a fantasy where the mc suffers through tunnels or caves

King of /sffg/.

Simple as.

>>19945768
Sounds like you're looking for the Mines of Moria!

No wonder Menocht Loop felt so strange, it was written by a w*man

>>19945880
Thats true but I'd like a book that's mostly like that not just one part

>>19945210
>I apparently stopped at the point before a mass murderer got off scot-free and I'm glad I did.
I continued for a bit longer, mostly because I enjoyed the other pov enough. But yeah, yesterday I checked the novels Wikipedia site to see what happened since I stopped.
Turns out, Erin gets “killed”, but to everyone’s surprise she isn’t actually dead. Then every character spends the entire Volume (!) trying to resurrect her while she is doing some bullshit in the land of the dead.
I don’t regret dropping it.
Ryoka: I forgot about her rejection of the levelling system.
But now I remember how much I hated her accepting the bullshit fairy magic later on. And btw, her buddy the frost faerie which died? She isn’t dead of course.

>Wandering Inn was such a series of missed opportunities and cop outs.
The major problem is that the story spends so much time to explain the world. It invites the reader to question the world in a way that no other litrpg story had. And it answered these questions, even when the answer was not pretty.
No, people are not equal. Sacrificing ten level 10 warriors to create a single level 20 warrior is worth the price if you don’t care about the individual.
Goblins can be reasoned with. But there is a reason why every goblin should be dead. It’s sad and you can feel pity for them. I can fully understand Erins motivation. But the hate the other species feel for these fuckers isn’t unreasonable. It came from near extermination of all sentient species. A guitar playing goblin in an inn won’t change their perception of them.

However, while the story explains all this stuff it never follows through.
There is a death penalty for certain crimes. But it never gets put into effect.
There is a reason why an alien race like the antinium is feared (and we know that people who mistrusts them are 100% correct). But suddenly everyone is accepting and they turn into normal people. They can even fall in love with humans now! Does it makes? Doesnt this destroy the entire principal of the antinium species?
Who cares! But patreons can do all the stupid fan stuff and be happy about their favourite characters falling in love with each other.

>>19945880
>>19945768
cil aujas is better than the mines of moria, it's only like 25% of the judging eye though

>>19945768
Tombs of atuan

dead general

>>19946751
Good.

>>19946751
I'll take a quiet general over weird "I bought a kayak on credit debt" spamming we had last thread. Even a small dose of Bakker and Reverend Insanity posting is just endearing.

>>19944853
Started pic related last night based on anon's recommendation. Only read to the end of chapter 1 and wasn't really sucked in but I'll give it a bit more.

>>19945210
>>19939161
I'm going to assume you mean Calruz when you say "Mass Murderer", so I think it's important to note a few things about that whole sitation story-wise

1. As is made exceedingly clear, Calruz was (potentially) completely batshit insane during his stay in the dungeon, and has now been restored to sanity. It would go against Zevarra's character for her to kill him when he was acting under exenuating circumstances, which is why she has to support Calruz (plus she wants Minotaur D)

2. It isn't as though Calruz learns nothing from his experience and doesn't develop as a character. By allowing him to survive, the author is able to take the opportunity to explore how someone who had done something horrific without their full control is able to react to that and live with themselves going forwards.

3. Even with Zevarra on Calruz's side, it is only with Erin's intervention that he is prevented from being lynched. I'm not arguing whether or not Erin SHOULD have saved Calruz, but I do think that it would go completely against Erin's character for her to simply sit there and allow Calruz to die when there was a possibility for her to do something about it.

Overall, The Wandering Inn has always been a story about hope. It would go against the story's tone to not allow a character like Calruz a chance to atone and redeem themselves (which, if the other redemption arcs in the story are anything to go by, will not end with everyone randomly loving and being okay with him again one chapter.) Even in the darkest of storylines (apart from the Rhir Wall arc), everything always ends up turning out for the best, but not without the characters changing and adapting to their new conditions as well. The core of the book is people living in a dangerous, 'realistic' fantasy world but still managing to change things for the better, grow stronger, and become better people for it.

>>19941040
>>19945210
>>19940729
As for the Ryoka issue, she constantly gets punished for her fuckups until she finally wises up after going to Reitzmelt. After that she starts taking a bit more of a back seat to all the immortal stuff.

Anyway, I absolutely adore The Wandering Inn, would recommend to anyone if you can get past the rocky first book.

>>19945768
Journey to the center of the earth

>>19945104
thanks, gonna try out john blake chronicles.

Starting this now.

Wish me luck!

>>19946906
Not going to post an entire spoiler block, so spoilers for Vol 3 or 4 or 5 or whatever.

You posted it yourself: “Calruz was (potentially) completely batshit insane”. However, he was not a crazy guy in a dark alley mumbling to himself and then stabbing some random people because he thought they were aliens. He was organized. He was planning. He was fully aware of what he was doing and the consequences of his actions. Even in my country these are the attributes that distinguishes a crazy psycho who has no clue about what he is doing and a terrorist/serial killer.
And his actions killed many people while he was a leader and he planned to kill many, many more. No court on earth would give him anything but the maximum sentence their country allows. And a strict medieval society like the drake one? They would have had his head in a basket by the time the citizens of Liscor filled the main district to see his execution.

Also, at this point I don’t care much about Erins character anymore. She is more of a plot device. But sure it “fits” her behaviour to protect him. But it only serves the purpose of keeping Calruz alive and the entire drake society not behaving like the drake society.

Honestly it baffles me how anybody can defend this. Calruz is the worst example of the entire novel:
He should have died during skinners attack.
He should have died alone in the dungeon with just a single arm.
He should have died when he was captured by the raskghar.
He should have died during the final fight.
And he should have died when he was imprisoned.

>The Wandering Inn has always been a story about hope.
Ehh. You need consequences. You need tension. But after 5/6/7/8/9 volumes there are ZERO deaths. (And no, some random goblin which stayed at the inn for a week doesn’t count.) Nobody dies. Not Calruz, not Klbkch, not ivolethe. I don’t need Hope when I know for certain everything will turn out perfectly fine.
No, I don’t want this to turn into grimdark novel. But this story is about conflict. About war. Sure, Erin can be goofy in her inn. But the Antinium were planning for another war, the Humans in the north are always scheming and the Goblins are a ticking timebomb. And God knows what horrors are on the other continents. The story would be about hope if these threats are real. But the antinium are suddenly happy normal people. The Human war was bad. But nobody of importance died and everything turns out perfectly fine. And we all know that the Goblin problem will solve itself with Erins naïve worldview and some divine magic bullshit.
That’s the problem.

>As for the Ryoka issue, she constantly gets punished for her fuckups
Yeah. No. At least the parts I’ve read.

Don’t get me wrong, the reason I type all this is because I absolutely enjoyed this webnovel. And I am just sad that I turned out this way.

Childhood is reading sci fi and fantasy
Teenage years are when you were eschewing it for “literary” fiction
Adulthood is realising there’s no meaningful difference and that there is a false dichotomy

>>19945768
Everybody Loves Large Chests

>>19947180
Speculative fiction is the mainstream of literature. Literary fiction is an artifact of the Enlightenment and probably won't last another 200 years.

>>19947167
prepare urself for kino

Yes, I'm a Bakkerposter. No, I will not take my meds.

>>19947650
Even Greg Sadler said Bakker is a slogfest.

'ate yellow jackets
'ate whispers
'ate bonds magi
praise the crooked warden

>>19947692
>Even "Literal Who" said Bakker is a slogfest.
Why should I care?

>>19947798
Sadler isn’t a literal who. He’s mentioned here all the time because of his Speculative Fiction Series.

Thoughts on Jack Vance? I'm halfway through Eyes of the Overworld and enjoying it a lot, Cugel, is an absolute bastard but such a great character. Once you get used to the archaic style of writing it becomes a breeze. Where do I go with Vance once I'm done with his Dying Earth stuff?

>>19947837
Lyonesse is pretty great, and there are a couple of Anons who plug Showboat World regularly, but I haven't read that yet. Unfortunately Vance's quality is all over the place.

>>19945768
Not the MC but the Bridgeburners have a good old time beneath the city of Pale. I really need to reread Gardens of the Moon. It has been a while.

>>19947804
Not my problem.

>>19948026
Clearly it is. You are so new here and dreadfully ill-informed that you are a complete embarrassment to this entire board. The problem of your stupidity is no problem of others.

>>19945768
It’s not the whole story but there’s a part similar to that in The Gunslinger.

>>19948226
>You need to read every limp-wristed blog poster's opinion to participate in /sffg/

No, you need to read scifi/fantasy to participate in /sffg/. Fuck off with your gatekeeping.

What are /sffg/s guilty pleasures?

is bakker an atheist?

>>19947692
Where?

>>19945104
I read 4 and dropped two. Shill me on the rest.

I hate dinosaurs and people's retarded maturation of them.
I love magic and people doing novel shit with magic.

>>19945768
Mountain King by Cebelius
It's smut though.

>>19947174
Same spoilery stuff warning.
Why is character death the only metric that matters for whether or not something is 'consequential' or not? I would argue emotional stakes are far more important for the success of a story, and TWI keeps delivering in that regard for me. LOTR is a good example of this; the only good character that dies (and stays dead) is Boromir. That doesn't mean there's no tension or conflict. Wouldn't the series be worse if Aragorn just straight up died at Helm's Deep and couldn't complete his arc because 'muh war realism'?

Basically, the story has stakes but they're emotional and character-wise rather than physical. Liscor was literally about to riot for the death of Calruz which is almost unheard of due to, as you said, the very strict and law abiding nature of Drake society - let alone the gnolls!

I guess I can see where you're coming from if you look at ot from the angle of 'everything always turns out fine', but that's kind of just the main thesis of the series, and its ignoring how the characters change and grow based off of what happens. Plus your mileage may vary, but I don't feel as though these plot points are Deus Ex Machina'd a very large majoroty of the time; their resolution is always based on character action not random chance.

Also is Ryoka losing fingers, getting a guy killed, and then her friends and family not punishment? By her own actions she's forced to completely reconsider her worldview and make the effort necessary for her to be a better person

>>19945880
I mean they kinda just suffer through the end of the caves. Sam could be said to suffer through caves and tunnel from start to finish since he loses bill but still.

I remember I read in Wikipedia, years ago about a late 19th century, or early 20th century German fantasy novel. Any idea of what novel could it have been?
It must have been among the first German fantasy novels, pre-Tolkien. It was not Momo or the never ending story.

>>19945104
What is this? I have never heard of any of these?

>>19948850
There's no reason why you should have.

>>19947837
I really like Turjan of Miir, and Mazirian the Magician and T'sais were interesting enough I suppose. Liane the Wayfarer on the other hand was so boring I never got past it.

>>19948758
In one of the AMAs. I remember he said that reading them was getting rough. But he didn't bag it too much, even if he completely disagrees with Bakker's worldview and philosophy (Sadler is almost an Idealist Catholic).

>>19948226
Didn't ask.

>>19948226
>"You are so new here"
>Not knowing the resident shit-posters and /sffg/ memes already
>Outing yourself as a newfag like this
The irony in this is delicious, ngl.

>David Foster Bakker

>>19948226
Please don't engage with it.

>>19948839
E.R. Eddison? He wrote The Worm Oroborous which influenced Tolkien.

ok I take it all back, it started to get good a few pagers after my rant post last week
Now I'm looking for some comfy scifi

>>19949235
No it was a German novel.

>>19944853
Any good fantasy books with a focus on pirates/swashbuckling?

>>19949405
And it was around the turn of the century? I'm looking through names and lists, but don't find anything.
Karl May came to mind, but he didn't really write fantasy.

Any introspective and emotional fantasy recs? I mean stuff that borders on being straight up emo or melodramatic. Just something with soul please. I'm tired of reading intellectual bullshit.

>>19949552
was gonna rec you this, but then I saw fantasy
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55825321

>>19949552
black sun rising

>>19949552
The Last Unicorn

>>19949811
Kek, really? I picked it up after an anon posted its cover a few threads back, but I have a hard time believing that this is going to be an emotional experience. But I'm only at 10% or so.

>>19949824
hoo boy just you wait

>>19949829
Bring it on!

>>19947167
First book is actually ok. just finished the second and i am done. wondering what to pick up next. any recommendations? is daniel abraham any good?

>>19949191
I enjoy putting our retarded tourists in their place. Any good reading recommendations for our retarded tourists, Anon? They can hardly formulate sentences so let us please think of material they can understand. Their reading comprehension is lower than that of an American Walmart worker. Their mothers conceived them from incestuous redneck relations within their trailer park upbringing. I would recommend them to The Darkness That Comes Before, which they all love without having actually read, but I'm afraid they wouldn't be able to sound out the words in the prologue!

>>19946466
> She sees Cleric, stepping out over the ruined amphitheatre, hanging, shimmed in white light against the black-and-ruby ramparts. The Nonman turns toward them, striding across empty air. His sorcerous song somehow rises through all noise and clamour, like blood squeezed from the world’s own marrow. Brilliant parabolas hook across the open spaces, fall at intervals along the teeming stair. And arcs beget arcs, jumping from Sranc to shrieking Sranc, multiplying to the force and tenor of Cleric’s arcane call. He comes to a halt, hangs motionless over the burning lake, his eyes and mouth glittering like stars, his hands outstretched. Incandescent scissions. Looms of light. The Skin Eaters cease their backward skid, begin hewing their way forward. Above them, their foes are thrashing and burning, caught in blinding webs, dazzling geometries.
Kino.

@19949851
>things that never happened.

>>19949858
Does it trouble you, being a newfag?

I JUST WANT TO COOM IN A GIRL

IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK FOR?

>mogs your male MC

>>19949872
start by talking to one and work your way from there

>>19949527
I found it. Its name was Undine, I was wrong about the details too.

>>19949862
sure, id love to read more of a series with almost exclusively shitty uninteresting characters and a psychoanalyst superhero who wows supposedly the most competent and powerful men with pure faggotry. oh and making the only remotely interesting character, conphas, peripheral while giving pov to esmenet the idiot whore is such a selling point. bakker fags should kill themselves for promoting this cuckoldry

>Another low IQ gets filtered
Many such cases.

>>19949878
I already do. But they want commitment to let me into the hallowed wet walls. My hormones are fucked, usually when I win, I lose interest complete. She will just be a walking fleshlight, that I will only show affection when I'm horny, and they don't want that.

>>19949899
I accept your defeat

Not my problem.

>>19949899
oh its you again.. getting repetitive

Is it summer already?

>>19949931
Looks like it, considering the amount of clueless newfags itt.

>>19949931
It's been 'summer' since the 2010s.

>>19949876
I'm going to read this one after I'm finished with the Hidden Tower.

>>19949931
These miscreants are not cut out for higher learning.

>>19949927
>Imagine being filtered by the prologue.

>>19949927
The same can't be said about your IQ tests, though.

>>19949956
I was filtered by the prologues of Way of Kings ngl

>>19949887
Tell me more about Undine. Is it a novel? Do you mean this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undine_(novella)?

>>19944853
Recommended me fantasy that invokes a similar feeling to ASOIAF

Recently discovered that Michael Moorcock is releasing a new Elric novel this year, looks cool.

>>19950117
The Lyonesse trilogy

>>19950155
It’s out of print I’m assuming? Can’t find new copies anywhere

>>19950186
I've found this version on Amazon

>>19947167
Is this book in barnes and noble?

Rifters:

Starfish - 8/10
Maelstrom - 7/10
Behemoth - starting tonight, wish me luck!

>>19950200
i don't have a reaction image that adequately portrays my disgust at this cover art

>>19950283
I suppose you prefer big letters of the author's name taking up half the book, with reddit spacing for the title. Then with abstract colors making the cover look like vomit. ANY cover art is better than the shit today.

I'm halfway through Malazan 2, when does it(the series) become good again?

>>19950302
Forgot pic as an example

>>19950302
just because it's better than the trash template they use today doesn't make it good. though i admit most of my distaste for it is with the title block at the bottom rather than the art itself

I got filtered by the prologue of the Darkness that Comes Before at first, but I kept reading that first part and it was actually kinda interesting ngl. Gonna see if it continues being so.

>>19950346
Didn't ask.

>>19950327
Personally, I think the cover for the first Dune book is kinda nice here. Admittedly, nowhere near as kino as some of the ones from the 80’s (especially if they’ve got tears and wrinkles from years of rereads)

>>19950348
Nigga, I just said I liked the prologue. Don’t you want more people to read the book you keep praising or do you just wanna be a nuisance?

>>19950355
Not my problem.

>>19950355
Why do you reply to the spamming faggot?

>>19950360
>if I just ignore him he will stop

>>19950360
I made a grave miscalculation it seems

The thread was good while it lasted

https://rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm
read this you mother fuckers

I like these covers

toll keen

>>19950505
Toke-In

>>19950531
>We wuz tokein n shieet

>>19950554
No. You ruined it.

>>19950568
I accept your defeat

>>19950531
international pipe smoking day is this sunday btw

>>19949931
Been that way since 2008 friend.

>>19950581
I smoke 4 pounds of weed-stuffs per year. Every day is pipe smoking day.

>>19950595
DUDE

>>19950595
>it's ok dude i can stop anytime i want haha

>>19950595
Huh, I only smoke a pound and a half every year, but yes every day is pipe smoking day.

>>19950595
>when you smoke weed and read a good book
wew lads

So I like it. If you like a training montage, you may too. When it shifts to character mode it gets too muh edge but the author understands the problem and prescribes more training. So it all works out. I don't know. Niche is niche. I've dropped my last two progression fantasies but I'm still on the hook with this one.

>>19950634
What did you drop?

>>19950505
tol kee yen

>>19950001
>filtered by the prologues of Way of Kings
That's called having respect for your own time, anon.

>>19949851
I'm the guy who was shilling Shadow in Summer last thread and I had the same experience with Bakker - I found it had some promise in book 1 but didn't pan out by book 2. Interesting setting but unrelatable characters and everything was over the top "dark" to the point it broke my immersion - for example I busted out laughing when the concubine flees her rapist only to meet two guys who want to rape her (comically licking their knives of course), but is saved by her rapist so he can rape her some more.

Give A Shadow in Summer a shot, it's a relatively brisk read and supposedly the sequels are even better.

>>19950302
I would prefer the book itself shaped into the first letter of title.

>>19950653
Michael Chatflied The Ten Realms (dropped at realm 4) and Azalea Ellis Seeds of Chaos. Ten Realms was the far superior of the two, but there was just nothing compelling about it. I don't remember anything about Seeds of Chaos - I just entered a "1" in my goodreads. Ten Realms was just a stream of filler. Adequate to adequate. With the Ghosthound something gets set up and I want to see it get played out. Not declaring it a masterpiece, that's just how I react to it. If you play in this genre you know that's how it is.

>>19950688
I see Ten Realms on amazon often and wasn't too interested once I saw that each new realm past 3 or 4 was two books per. Meh.

anything based

>>19950900

>>19946466
and that fucker could have dropped that wonderful section from TAE and the series would have been unchanged.

This is probably the most frustrating thing about Bakker is how inconsistent he is. Handful of interesting chapters slapped between dozens of grey shit.

>>19948009
there's also the siege of y'ghatan in bonehunters that's pretty terrifying/claustrophobic

fantasy novels about lifting weights and cage fighting apes?

>>19951268
MEANWHILE...back at the Imperial Palace!

>>19951327
fool's mark

>>19946874
I finished this recently, pretty captivating after a few more chapters

Menocht Loop sequel is very gay, not surprising especially from a w*man author but eh

>Silmarillion is 0.04 away from 4 stars on goodreads

>>19951509
>yolk spilling
>not satisfying
Who the hell likes undercooked yolk?

>>19951562
>missing the point

>>19947174
>You need consequences. You need tension. But after 5/6/7/8/9 volumes there are ZERO deaths. (And no, some random goblin which stayed at the inn for a week doesn’t count.) Nobody dies.
I had the same feeling reading ATG, and it was confirmed by the author's words that he does like happy endings with the harem in his books.
The same happened when decided to change the plot of the story to save the MC's daughter from death. He said "since I've become a father, I couldn't go through with it"
So, if you notice it, in the novel none of his women and family get killed or raped. Instead, they always get to close to death (but the MC can always fix them since he's got OP healing knowledge) and "almost-raped"...
Knowing that, I never once got genuinely worried since I knew nothing bad would ever happen killing completely my future expectations for the story.
>>19948850
>What is this?
It's haremlit, or haremfantasy.
>I have never heard of any of these?
Most are cheap smut with terrible plot, few are actually written decently. Also, the writers are the complete opposite of woke, and sjw avoid these books like the plague, so there's also that.
>>19950145
Reminder for the Moorcock fans that the true ending of the saga is the comic series published by DC Comics and written by him

>>19951070
If you already know the story of The Hobbit from the films, is there even any point in reading it before reading the LOTR if you aren't a 9 year old? Or is it genuinely worth it to read?

>>19949563
>>19949811
>>19949813
Ty frens

>>19951770
It’s not the same as the movie at all:

>>19951820
>at all
shiggy

>>19951372
>meanwhile... back at Ishterebinth!
>will Sorweel avenge his father or does he want to get laid more?
>will Boatman sing another song?
>will the next wall be covered in engravings too?
>will ishroi complain about fooking men again?

>>19950306
2 and 3 are most people's favorites.

>>19945768
tom sawyer

>>19946874
Anyone else really annoyed by the girl and the ending?
The girl is really preachy (to the point of annoying-ness sometimes yes I know that is her point, but I still wouldn't expect the knight to basically do a 180 for her instantly).
And the ending was pretty good, but he should have stayed in hell and she should have died; him being taken out of hell and the girl being reset with no memories kind of feels like a copout and sappy since he kind of remains attached to her purely out of events that she never even remembers the second time around.
All in all, 8/10 definitely recommend, Delphine best daughter-fu.

>>19947837
after dying earth, you can read the following:

- planet of travel - has 4 books, tone wise is the closest to cugel's saga, can sometime feel like a extended portion of it, which was extremely pleasing to me

cadwal chronicles - series of 3 books, stated and measured tone, the first, araminta station is the best in the trilogy, overall quite different from the others

- emphyrio - stand alone, measured tone, similar to cadwal chronicles, rushed ending

- last castle - short work, some thought process and setting was re-used for cadwal chronicles, average

dragon masters - novella, concept expanded in planet of adventure

lyonesse - is quite different thematically from all his other works, and there are only certain segments that have the tone of his other works

i have not read the demon princes, ports of call or lurulu yet, hopefully they will be as good as his other works.

>>19949931
It's the beginning of Ski Week

>>19951893
*planet of adventure

How can fantasy tropes ever recover?

>>19951909
>wot if wizard but like retarded
>wot if city guard but like retarded
>wot if angel of death but like retarded
Peak bong humor

>>19951509
I am about to finish it and will be rating it 3 stars

>>19951990
There’s more than that. The whole questing adventure is inverted and made fun of, whilst there’s a kinda ironic tone about “fantastical things only exist if you believe in it.”

>>19951990
No, thats anime

What the fuck is up with all this "Dungeon Core" bullshit everywhere? It's fucking awful. It's like someone decided to take the worst elements of litrpg garbage and combine it with the worst elements of a book that got sidetracked with retarded base building filler and decided "yes this is what I want to write".

Why doesn't Rand redeem Lanfear with his dick and make her his waifu?
She's best girl by far.

>>19952199
Because she's a horrible cunt with Borderline Personality Disorder and Rand is, funnily enough, not a giant simp.

>>19952209
>not going for the yandere villain waifu who is canonically the most loyal and beautiful woman in the history of the world
Any good books with this plotline?

>>19952209
Would have been a much more interesting 3rd wife than M*n

>>19952257
She was literally just Egwene except hot, there was absolutely nothing likeable about her.

>>19952247
sounds absolutely based

>>19952209
I wonder what is her body worth. Technically speaking, as a slave/bride price. 5 million? Certainly a castle with some land and attached peasants in the middle ages?

>>19950327
They don't look that bad, Art Deco (?) is not the worst look for Dune. Though from the thumbnails the looked like energy drinks, so my expectations were very low.

>Messiah
>God-Emperor
>Chapterhouse
feels like a strange progression

>>19952343
She is a stubby kike. Not much.

>>19952372
Oh, that's a shame. So as a fuck-doll, generally speaking. Not for breeding in this case then.
Half a million? Think I would if I could.

>>19948812
>Why is character death the only metric that matters
It isn’t. But it works for a novel, centred around conflict and war.
The comparison to lotr is quite good. In TWI, Frodo wouldn’t have suffered so much post-Mordor. In lotr, he cannot even live in the most peaceful place on the planet, surrounded by friends and companions. Even the mightiest kings bow down to him! But Mordor was just too much for Frodo and he chooses to sail away.
Do you think something similar can happen to Erin in TWI? Or will mirsha just cuddle for a minute and everything will turn out fine? The horrible torture by Sauron and the many scars he carries around just easily forgotten? Simply because "everything will turn out fine"?
And Saruman wasn’t put into a cell and let alive because he was crazy or mislead by Sauron.
Orks are evil. Sure, perhaps you can raise one from birth and he wont eat you in your sleep. But everyone doing this is crazy and would be shunned by others. Orks are Saurons creations. Similar to Goblins which follow they king when one is born.

Again, I don’t argue for realism in a sense that Erin should have died on a number of occasions. She is the MC. But I can argue that the story should fit in the established world. Keeping someone like Calruz alive doesn’t make sense.
> Liscor was literally about to riot for the death of Calruz
And what happened then? Did any major character have a change of heart? Was anyone forced to do a hard decision? No of course not. Suddenly Calruz was fine, Liscor was at peace again and every dead man, woman and child is forgotten.

>'everything always turns out fine', but that's kind of just the main thesis of the series
Yes, it is. But the story wants to build tensions. It wants to have conflicts. Because only then, “can everything turn out fine”. Without it, the story turns into a million-word long slice of life story which doesn’t care about what happened in the previous chapter. And a major war/conflict/fight is pointless, because we already know that everything always turns out perfectly fine..
And that’s what saddens me.

> their resolution is always based on character action not random chance.
Not random. But 100% not fitting the characters or the world.

Ryoka: It’s been years since I’ve read the novel, as I can’t recall the guy she killed. But her losing her fingers had what impact? She is the second major protagonist, so I won’t argue that she should have died and I won't argue over her character. You may like her, fine. But Ryoka was always an exercise in frustration. And that was the major opinion even on the diehard fan websites.

Still, Ryoka wasn’t the reason I stopped reading the novel.
It was its inconsistent nature. And what I perceive as the negative impact of fans on the development of a story. Fanservice would be a good description, if you ignore the sexual undertones it comes with.

>>19950200
Do treeniggers really?

Peculiar Soul on Royal Road is a really good fantasy story, if anyone is looking for something to read. It is not finished yet but there are a reasonable amount of chapters.

>>19952247
>most loyal
Only as long as you remain top dog. Once you get old and your son surpasses you Lanfear leaves you for him instead.

>>19951868
so far 2 hasn't reached an eighth of what 1 did to me.
no vivid descriptions of magic battles, no literal gods meddling in the matters of earth. no plots within plots and 15 plot lines coming together.
2 better have some wild shit waiting to justify that reputation.

For me, it was Midnight Tides and The Bonerhunters.
Don't read The Crippled God

gonna get my avern tattoo today

stop fighting already

>>19947167
>>19947650
w-what is that

should I give Harry Potter a read? never got into it as a kid

>>19953803
are you a woman?

>>>/tv/164151817
>>>/tv/164151817
>>>/tv/164151817

>>19953807
no

we're getting raided by americans again

>>19953803
sure it's pretty good. does a very good job creating its own, relatively coherent world. mind that the audience is more or less harry's age in each book, in that it reads progressively less simple as the books go on

>>19953815
then don't waste your time

>>19953811
>

>>19953816
When was the last time an American read anything that didn't list prices on each line?

>>19953803
Harry Potter makes absolutely no sense of you really think about the plot and world building. I recently watched those movies out of curiosity. Apparently the books make no sense either. When I was that age my mom banned me from reading or playing games with magic. She even forbid me from playing RuneScape.

So Satan is real?

Books written by women is non-sublime and non-supreme, if you read books by women you are unbased and pozzed, I know this because I read some women books (just to confirm they are non-sublime and non-supreme) and it was so pozzed it unbased me, I had to re-read Bakker several times to feel non-pozzed again.

>>19953524
Congratulations, did you tell your boyfriend yet?

>>19954069
Sandersois will say this is fake, but truth shines

>>19954069
Thank you for your explanation, anon. I have suspected this to be the case.

>>19953996
That is what you get for playing around as a filthy mage instead of a void ranger of strength pure like you should

>>19953803
It's good in terms of character interaction and aesthetics, but the world and villains are retarded. Like the entire plot could end at any point if one of the characters picks up a gun, and magic follows no rules at all.

If you want to read YA shit I'd go with one of the authors Rowling borrows from like Ursula le Guin or Piers Anthony.

>>19953996
This, I have seen one hp movie but magic made no sense at all, it was also more about drama and some retarded issues than exploration of magic

>>19954158
>I have suspected this to be the case.
Many have suspected it to be the case, but it takes a Bakkerchad to shine light on the truth, it takes a Bakkerchad to red pill the masses, you see some think women suck major ass but they still read a woman book if it was highly regarded, which is very pozzed and unbased.

I'd like to write a fantasy / medieval fiction. Should I avoid reading it to avoid the trappings of cliche and tropes? I fear if i read it that I'll be inadvertently influenced by what i read.

Many thanks.

>>19954420
No, you should start a cult of writing fantasy/medieval fiction. Seclude yourself in a mountain fortress and breed the best writers of fantasy/medieval fiction in isolation. Emerge after 2000 years as the greatest self-creative writer of fantasy/medieval fiction and claim the dominion of the literary world.

>>19954436
T-Thanks, Anon.
You're promoted.

>>19949299
The 2nd trilogy (book 4, 5, 6) of David Brin's Uplift series is pretty comfy. It's about a bunch of aliens (and humans) who hide on a "fallow" planet (a world declared off-limits, for life to develop), rejecting technology and living in a pre-space flight society. But of course, stuff happens (things related to book 2 and 3) and things don't go as planned.

FYI the books are:

1. Sundiver
2. Startide Rising
3. The Uplift War
4. Brightness Reef
5. Infinity's Shore
6. Heaven's Reach

Book 1, while introducing the universe, is basically just a "whodunnit" in space. It's the worst of the series, and has some things in it even Brin seems to want to forgot he ever brought up. It might be skippable.

I realize I'm telling you to read 1 trilogy just so you can read another, comfier, trilogy.

Also, these books are nothing like Neuromancer. For what it's worth, Neuromancer is my all time absolute favorite book and I get goosebumps just thinking of certain passages from it, so I'm not just some uplift fanboy shill.

>>19949876
Is there romance?

>>19953294
does it matter at that point?

>>19944853
did anyone here ever read the neanderthal parallax?

>>19954785
Of course. You can be the greatest man in human history but if you get cucked by your son that's all you'll ever be remembered for.

>>19953356
anything with karsa, and parts of the rake story, was good. tehol and bugg provided some mild chuckles. the rest was meh

Do you guys read physical? Or else, how do you read?

>>19954949
I read on my e-reader mostly. If I really like a book I buy a physical copy for rereads though in reality the book sits on my shelf untouched because reading on my e-reader is so much more convenient.

>>19954949
phonechads rise up

>>19954949
Sometimes I read on my mp3 player.

>>19955044
non-unbased

I went ahead and read this, its super short (64 pages) and is not badly written beside the overly Ebonics writing when a black guy is talking, the story is bad but the world building is good and there is cool sci-fi stuff with futuristic chastity cages that opens only with a thumb print by an inspector and branding sticks that turns you into an eternal slut to the brander, also some fantasy drugs with a variant of weed that works like acid and turns you super horny and make you cum more. The story is very bad in my opinion, like everything moves in a way to get the main character blacked and it doesn't hide it, it offers hope here and there but you know it will be crushed by how overpowered black people in the story, they literally have guns that shoot only when a black person is holding the weapon, if a white boy graped the gun he can't even shoot that motha fucka!... anyway I still got hard and coomed during reading so I guess its a cool smut story with nice world building.

overall 6/10 book, if you are into that stuff go ahead and read it, its very short. I found my copy on Z Libray.

>>19955145
hello whitney ryan, kindly fuck off

>>19955182
ok white boy

>>19955145
This novel is actually based because it shows that all black men are faggots

>>19955209
IIRC gay rape is even a part of some african tribal customs.

>>19955145
>20,000 words of sizzling prose

>>19955209

>>19955209
Also in the novel all black men say "das rite" when they agree with someone, I can't help but laugh despite jerking off to the smut

>>19955223
umm swatty that's gay

Should I read on my phone or go physical? Will the prior fuck up my eyes?

>>19955272
Reading on your phone is suffering dude
Get a cheap used kindle paperwhite if you're ok with pirating
If you aren't buy used paperbacks/hardbacks

>>19955217
holy fuck i knew that post was familiar

>>19955290
Not him but I’ve always thought about getting some kind of kindle instead of using my old iPad. Do you just drag and drop to get the books in?

>>19955290
I'm fine with pirating, guess I'll get a kindle paperwhite, but aren't they screens as well? What's the difference there?

>>19955272
Not if it has a good screen, but srsly just buy a used ereader. They're like $40 and perfect sized for reading books.

>>19955301
That's literally all Kindle pirating is. I second anon's suggestion of getting a cheap Paperwhite.
>convert ebook to .mobi or .azw3
>drag and drop into documents

>>19955302
ereaders dont use LCD screens so they aren't constantly raping your eyes

>>19955290
>>19955306
Why Paperwhite over the regular?

>>19955302
You can use natural light to read with a kindle

>>19955326
You really don't need physical buttons so it's smaller/lighter. And I say that as someone who used a Kindle 3 for like 5+ years.

>>19955290
>>19955305
Where can I find a cheap paperwhite? The only ones I'm finding are over $100

>>19955302
Search up e-ink
It's not like a typical screen, it looks like the words are printed onto the surface kind of
>>19955301
Not entirely but basically
Just use calibre to convert EPUBs
Right click on the file within calibre, send file to kindle, click yes when it asks whether you want to autoconvert
>>19955326
Idk it's just the one I have

>>19955338
>Right click on the file within calibre, send file to kindle, click yes when it asks whether you want to autoconvert
I might have to try this. I've been manually converting then dragging it over this entire time wew

>>19955301
>>19955338
Just get a Kobo instead or Kindle so you don't have to fuck around with 3rd party software like calibre - it's literally just drag and drop.

>>19955337
Idk anon, it probably depends on which country you're living in

>>19955337
eBay. They're all the same after 3rd gen unless you care about it being waterproof.

>>19955302
It's a matte high PPI screen that does low light really well. If you have an 8" tablet with a good OLED screen you might call that close enough, but e-ink is way cheaper and measures battery life in weeks.

>>19955372
Dude you're adding a book that you'll be spending the next 10+ hours with, an extra 5 seconds spent adding the book to your kindle does not matter
Just get whichever one is cheaper for you used

>>19955381
Alright, I found something. Just confirming, this is exactly what I want right? I'm not missing anything, I'll be able to pirate and read anything?

Okay, /sffg/, I'm forced to admit it: you were right. The Chronicles of Amber was absolute unfiltered schizoid ADD garbage. The worst shit I've ever read. I have never suffered such an agonizing reading experience as this and I'm quite certain that I never will again.

>>19955418
Read non-garbage books then

>>19955416
>updated
Never do this. It's going to be a pain in the balls to decrypt new books from Amazon if you use Linux, but it's fine otherwise.

>>19955434
>It's going to be a pain in the balls to decrypt new books from Amazon if you use Linux, but it's fine otherwise.
I don't get what you mean

>>19955434
It sounds like your own problem with this is so niche as to be a nonissue to most others o-O

>>19955439
I have no idea what he's saying either and I've been using my kindle for 3 years now
Calibre works on linux iirc so idk

>>19955444
>>19955450
So I buy this? No issues?

>>19955430
I usually do but you can't always predict something that's not only critically acclaimed but actually sounds interesting from the promotional description turns out to be fucking dogshit
Pic related, I hated these books too but even they weren't as bad as fucking Amber. Zelazny should have been institutionalized before inflicting his trash writing on an innocent and unsuspecting populace.

>>19955450
Same, I use kindle and I use caliber and its easy, just right click the book and add to Kindle. its just kobe users that invested in kobe stocks or something.

>>19955453
No issues.

Don't kindles have ads unless you pay a huge premium for the adless version? That's what has always put me off from buying one

>>19955532
I think the ones that do have ads have them only on the idle screen when you stop using the kindle.

>>19955539
And they only update if you turn wifi on.

>>19955532
>a huge premium
like 20$, idk who that is for, just buy the damn thing properly

>>19955550
I remember some anon said he turns off wifi so the jews don't re-write his books and brainwash him

>>19955532
The ads don't disrupt the reading experience, only the idle and home screen.
If it really ticks you off just install a jailbreak and you can display custom idle screens, like the cover of the book you're reading

You guys listen to music while reading?

>>19955463
I like Kobo being around because Amazon is inevitably going to turn evil-er, but there's no difference atm.

>>19955532
It's only on the home screen and screen saver, and these days the ads are only for other books. You can root it to get rid of them if it really bothers you.

>>19955573
Yeah, I love listening to this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MADvxFXWvwE

>>19955558
>just buy the damn thing properly
Yeah, give Amazon money for their shit business practices and for locking everything up. If you want to buy new, buy from a manufacturer that doesn't lock you into one shop only.

>>19955560
You say that like it's not a thing.

>>19955577
>I like Kobo being around because Amazon is inevitably going to turn evil-er
Kobe user is a pozzed sjw confirmed

>>19953113
>Peculiar Soul

Does it have alot of filler?

>>19955585
Yeah dude, they access your books through the wifi and sneakily change them while you sleep, so when you wake up and continue reading you are reading a new book whiteout even noticing, and they do that with every shitty fantasy/sci-fi book you read. You better turn off the wifi on every device you own at this point including the computer, they add subliminal sissy hypno to you desktop without you noticing, thus slowly turning you into a sissy,

>>19955607
I'm still not turning on the wifi, kike

>>19954949
Ereader

>>19947837
>Cugel is an absolute bastard
This. I loved reading about this evil shit.

>>19954761
really wish that he'd kept writing SFF instead of consulting to tech companies and getting into politics.

lot of unfinished business in the uplift universe, would love to see something else like Glory Season too.

>>19955608
We developed a new technology to change your books without wifi, have fun getting sissified.

>>19955333
I still use Kindle 3 even though I have the paperwhite. Might be just my machine, but its battery had been absolute dogtrash since day one. I can't read one novel without it running out, and it fully depletes in like ~1 month if I leave it idle. My Kindle 3's battery is a fucking beast next to it, it can go for like a year and a half when left idle.

Menocht Loop but good

>>19955560
i never enable wi-fi or buy any e-books from the south american river site. i use calibre and never have to worry about something being removed from the kindle or blocked depending on location.

are you idiots really this tech-illiterate?

>>19955665
>are you idiots really this tech-illiterate?
They probably don't even teach kids how to do keyword searches in google anymore.

I just read both of these and they weren't all that bad, most of the hate and meme opinions were overblown and unwarranted. The writing started out pure cringetism but it sounds really nice in your head and the prose carries it. My favorite part was how heavily he leans on Borges and makes a world out of it without butchering the whole thing. Hated most of the characters but I hate people so take that as you will.
simping for a literal whore is total bullshit but kvothe is a fucking asshole and deserves it. The end where she doesn't like how it feels and turns into a hole was worth all the simp.

Any other easy reading comfylit?

>>19955584
I'd rather have a good ereader than have one that is ideologically pure but sucks technically.

>>19955646
>it can go for like a year and a half when left idle.
This, its crazy how it can go for months if idle

>>19955646
>Might be just my machine
It sounds like it. I use mine often, on a daily basis at the very least, and only have to charge it maybe once a month.

>>19955679
The Lies of Locke Lamora is another easy to read forever unfinished fantasy series that is kinda similar. The MC gets cucked by a dumb whore too.

>>19955646
How do you cope with the godawful screen on the old kindle? Once I started to use a 300ppi reader with light I could never go back.

>>19955693
Sounds fun and has been on my radar since I read Farseer and had to stop reading fantasy for a while. I don't know what it is about all these faggot MCs but it made me self insert as the bull.

Okay ereaders fags, post
>FONT TYPE
>FONT SIZE


>Bookerly
>1

>>19955703
Palatino or similar if they have it.

>>19955716
Please be my girlfriend.

>>19955698
It's not that bad. The only thing I'm pissed about is that one update that wrecked the page turning that was never fully fixed. It used to be so fast and almost unnoticeable on release.

Fuck bros, I had to go out today but I just want to be home so I can read game of thrones
Would it be wrong to assume that the books keep on being as good as the first book?
I haven’t been as engrossed in a book like this in a year, last book was probs a hero of our time or dune

>>19955716
What the fuck is that gigantic monstrosity? A tablet?
>reading Harry Potter

>>19955718
You better be a dorky chub with a big swinger, usually I'm forced to top.

>>19955418
that's the bullshit with the playing cards, yeah? God I fucking hated reading that shit

>>19955399
I prefer the Kobo for its physical build (really pleasant to hold compared to Kindles square design that's awkward in the hand) as well. But I had a Kindle for years and calibre was fucking annoying - always had updates/reminding me to update, takes fucking forever to load up, and it bugged our at least once with an update and I had to troubleshoot. I guess if you prefer to cope that it's not a big deal that you need 3rd party software to use your device at the most basic level that's fine.

>>19955567
>>19955558
>I'm only forced to see ads when I pick up and put down the device I PAYED FOR THE PLEASURE OF OWNING
Kobobros and kindlecucks really are a different breed.

>>19955732
It's the only way to read PDFs and the double column isn't bad for epubs. I'm used to massive hardbacks and not mass market shit.

I swear, I am getting so tired of strong and independent women in fiction. Sci Fi settings is one thing, because that science allow them to be augmented and enhanced. But the last book with humans vs alien wars was "Terms of enlistment." The world building was perfect. But at boot camp the protagonist observed an equal gender ratio! In what world, past, present or future would females want to join a war where they are more likely to die in battle than to survive? It ruined everything.

But past and fantasy books are one thing on its own.
Magic: If magic did in fact exist, I doubt that women would be good at it. At most, they would have their own gender exclusive battles. Like the women's chess championship. Or the women's math and physics olympiads. Since they cannot compete with men.
Physical stuff: Female warriors? Not even female archers can compete with male archers. Since bows require a lot of upper body strength.

Is there a way to bypass this gender crap? I don't want to read about strong and independent women. We get forced that shit daily in the real world. I want to escape feminism.

>>19955532
Wtf?
I’ve never seen an ad before, granted I’ve had mine on airplane mode since I bought it
Maybe I ought to stop recommending the kindle

>>19955680
I don't see how others suck technically compared to the kindle. I have a tolino/kobo and don't have any problems.

>>19955746
Tarot cards, and yeah its abysmal

>>19955748
Why do retarded children always cope and seethe about what others do. Kindles are technologically superior to Kobos, have better build quality (Kobos look and feel like they're cheap plastic toys), and are cheaper. That's a fact.

Kobo firmware is also less stable and functional, but it has more software options and some are better than Kindles' in some ways and worse in others.

Kobo has more compatibility, but if you buy an ebook you'll strip it of DRM anyway, same with using calibre to manage your library. There's no other software for that.
Conversion sometimes doesn't work completely right though, but imo not often and significantly enough to make up for the drawbacks of a Kobo.

So your computer is so shit that it can't even run calibre and you are so tech illiterate that you manage to break it despite not even being able to figure out how to turn off update notifications. Sucks to suck.

>>19955759
It started with Kindle 4. You could buy it for full price, or at a reduced price with ads, and the optional paid upgrade to remove them. I got three of the cheap ones from a local distributor. Since they were never connected to an Amazon account and never went online they remained fully ad-free and used the regular screensavers. Kinda funny.

>>19955787
>never connected to an Amazon account and never went online
I think I did this when I originally got my Paperwhite but I haven't had wifi turned on in several years and I have a default screensaver image instead of ads.

>>19955784
>if you buy an ebook
>t.

>>19955730
the others are of the same quality, 1-3 form one arc and have a quick tempo, things start cooling towards the end of book 3 for the second arc that covers 4-5 that are a bit slow and focus on the fallout on others due to the events that occurred in the first 3 books.
Though i would advise against reading them too fast, there is nothing out there that even compares

>>19955835
>Though i would advise against reading them too fast, there is nothing out there that even compares
Dunk and Egg is pretty alright for novellas.

>>19955749
Cringe. That's not even the problem with that series. The problem is at the end of third book the protagonist suddenly transforms from being a sociopath to The Good Guy and teams up with a gay Russian and the Strong Woman Commander to save the little guy from the Evil Bad No Good People In Charge who are suddenly completely incompetent and want to destroy humanity if they don't get to rule it

>>19955844
>Woman Commander
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

>>19955844
My favorite part is where MC's girlfriend finally gets a first name after being referred to by her last name exlusively and then she goes "But don't call me by that name... hehe"

>>19955784
The problem is that if you buy a new kindle, you encourage amazon's business practices. Which you shouldn't, even if you never buy an ebook. Don't encourage big companies to restrict your freedom of choice even more.

What are authors where if you've read at least one of them, you're allowed to have an opinion on sci-fi?

New
>>19906403
>>19906403
>>19906403

>>19955865
Whether I use amazon has zero impact on amazon, but has a big impact on my own quality of life.

>>19955749
This shit fucking sucks.
I tried reading the 2nd Gentlemen Bastards book, Red Seas Under Red Skies, and there was this woman pirate captain or something, so grotesquely overdone, I had to delete the book.

New thread
>>19955880

>>19955871
As I hover my naïve mouse on the link, the terrifying face of Bakker jump scares me into death.

>>19955749
>countless real world attestations of women accompanying men directly into battle, whether out of martial spirit or life-or-death practicality
>innumerable fictional accounts from the past of women warriors in the epic legends of historical cultures,, from the Amazons faced by Hercules or Digenes Akritas, of Bradamante in Ludovico Ariosto's poetry, of Mulan
>newfags from r/MGTOW complain about women fucking existing IN FICTION
I hate vargposters so much its unreal

>>19955928
>Implying they care about historical accuracy at all
They’re /pol/tards, what did you expect.

>>19955946
They're not from /pol/, they're election tourists from reddit who got kicked out of /pol/. I know this because I am from /pol/, and I'd never seen this cringe faggotry reach this boiling point until halfway through Trump's presidency.

>>19955958
Would explain why they take screenshots and have their fights here.

>>19955928
Where's your screenshot from? I'm interested.

>>19955886
New thread is gone to shit. A bakkerfags is throwing a tantrum and is spamming. Shame. The this thread and the last one were pretty alright.

>>19955607
They do update and in some cases remove books if you have WiFi enabled. It's not a huge leap to expect them to change problematic verbiage like Netflix does to TV shows.

>>19955646
You can get a new battery, but 1st gen Paperwhite is just a dog in general.

>>19955539
>>19955558
>>19955567
>>19955577
>>19955759
Thanks bros I just bought a kobo libra instead.

>>19956179
nice, i've got one and love it

>>19956179
Welcome home, kobobro.

>>19956004
Nah, they really weren't. Both were shit.

>>19955928
A small number of women accompanying men into battle is hardly the same as having a perfectly even gender split among professional soldiers. In fact, given perfect freedom of choice, all relevant data points to greater equality leading to LESS female representation in traditionally male roles, as evidenced by the massive gender imbalance in STEM courses in the Scandinavian countries.

Because as it turns out, women don't actually want traditionally masculine jobs all that much.