/lit/ - Literature

The Price of Spring, Long Price Quartet #4 - Daniel Abraham (2009)

Yet again 14 more years have passed, bringing the previous protagonists into their 60s, as 50 years have passed since the prologue of the first book. The central themes for this book are grief and renewal. While there are still fantasy tropes, I was moderately surprised to see how many science fiction tropes were added in as well. Two science fiction novels in particular come to mind, though I don't know how much of an influence they were, as it may just be coincidence. Naming them would be too much of a spoiler. I didn't mind, but for fantasy purists their inclusion may be distracting.

This book also included many more parallels to modern and contemporary events as well as what could be seen as speculation on the future. The primary social issues are the rights of women (or lack thereof), the greying of society, war trauma, ethnic nationalism, immigration, and assimilation. Almost everything that happens is in reaction to these.

There are new viewpoint characters, though the older generation remained active. Relationships continued to be very important, on both a personal and international level. Unfortunately, I think this was the weakest books for characters. A few of the characters sometimes seemed to have inconsistent characterization and their motivations were questionable at times, but strongly held delusions can do that. There were some cases of this in the previous books, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment until now.

The narrative is split into two opposing sides. I thought one side was clearly the correct path to follow, but by looking at the opinions of others there's substantial support for both sides. I read the incorrect path as a cautionary tale of a traumatized group with delusions of grandeur and a savior complex who put aside their destructive history and ignored the harm they were causing. I assume it wasn't intentional, but two of the overarching themes of this series to me has been "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" and that unwarranted kindness and mercy is destructive.

I'm not sure how I wanted the series to end, but I'm satisfied by how it did. It isn't a bleak ending, though it is definitive, which is probably for the best. Despite that I've finished the series I remain uncertain as to what series name "Long Price" refers to. I assume it means the cost that our actions from our earliest years may have on the rest of our lives. Overall, this is one of my favorite fantasy series now.

Rating: 4/5

King of /sffg/, simple as.

Read and Discuss.

Simple as.

>>19972360
>imagine sending and wsting your entire life fighting your golem

Bakker Reigns Supreme

>>19970962
>>19970962
>>19970962

>>19972397
V4 should remove rest of the books that weren't self-published.

>>19972409
Is that better or worse than spending your life fighting on 4chan?

Is Frank Herbert a preachy hack?

>beware of heros!
Is this actionable advice for anyone? When in your life will you ever choose whether or not to follow a hero?

This smells like pretentious, "OAH my subversion" bullshit, but I may be wrong

>>19972448
It isn't "beware of heros!". It's "beware of powerful and charismatic figures".

>When in your life will you ever choose whether or not to follow a cult of personality/demagogue?
This is a choice for many people often. It's even in this very thread, let alone this site.

>>19972459
Thanks, that makes sense.

Is it still pretentious though? His tone seems to imply that tales of heros are wrong.

>>19972476
I don't understand how you're using "pretentious" here, so I can't really say. It's not so much that it's "wrong", as in you shouldn't do that, so much as a specific example of a powerful and charismatic chosen one who used his powers for "evil", whether intentionally or not. I think you're overly generalizing the statement to cover everything, which is just silly.

what are some romance books

>>19972501
This Is How You Lose the Time War

>>19972501
Soulship probably. I couldn't read past the page where the boy and the girl each give a heartfelt confession while simultaneously on the run from the corrupt dystopian government infiltrated by aliens while also dealing with the fact that the girl herself is an alien spaceship. And this was just the first chapter.

>>19972516
kek, sounds like my kind of gutter trash

t. anon, consumer of literary excrement

W*men in fantasy wearing tight clothes is a pozzed provocation, this women is signaling her body to get fucked yet there is no one fucking her.

Which means everyone who didn't fuck her in the book is a cuck.

>>19972501
Just make sure its first person, any other point of view is cuckolding.

>>19972516
Thanks, I will add it to my list of Do Not Read books.

>>19972548
Your mental illness provides interesting content.

>>19972548
>no appreciation for fanservice
Uncultured swine.

How much fauxcest and real incest does Poul Anderson write about? It seems almost endless in this.

>>19972669
>Poul
Is it wrong that I hate this guy just for his dumb name?

>>19972673
Just imagine it is Paul

>>19972673
It is very wrong of you, he is a great writer who deserves a difficult name that forces everyone to stop and wrap their tongue around it forcefully.

>>19972693
>forces everyone to stop and wrap their tongue around it forcefully
hot

>>19972673
Isn't he Danish ethnically? lol

>>19972705
What else are you supposed to do with a pole?

>>19972673
Yes, the same way if someone hated you for your extremely generic name.

>>19972724
My name is Bo'bimble

>>19972720
Dance

Finishing Endymion tonight.

>>19972360
Not reading this to avoid spoilers but dang you finished that fast.

How to detect non-pozzed Fantasy/Sci-fi books part 1:

No female on the cover
No female protagonist
females does not affect the world
females does not affect the story

This should be a good entry to detecting non-pozzed books, if it all checks out then you are good to go.

>>19972795
Some of that you can’t know without reading. The only way to be sure is to not read anything written after 1950.

>>19972795
Also needless to say female author or names that sound like they could be male or female ( Ashley, Kelly etc) or author only prints initials and surname.
Or when searching such authors name on amazon or goodreads it only gives one or two line description about author without the picture or any information indicating if author is male or female (that normally means its a she)

Clark Ashton Smith

>>19972783
Yeah, I have a lot of time and no problem reading all day. I'll have another book posted in the next thread that I'm currently reading.

I don't think there's really much of anything spoiled besides general comments on its structure, but I wouldn't personally really read stuff for future books in a series either, so that's entirely understandable.

>>19972891
is mediocre at best and only read because he heckin influenced lovecraft!

>>19972516
Is the ship black though?

Does Gormenghast go anywhere?
The prose is superb and the visualizations are some of the best, but it just doesn't feel like it's ever going to move beyond very flowery descriptions.

>>19973331

It does get good, just power through the more mediocre parts.

>>19972516
Yeah it was pretty wacky at the start and not the best of tone+environment blending.
The funny thing is one of the biggest complaints I see being normalfags who claim that it's a harem when we're four books in and MC hasn't even gotten a kiss but the other ship 'avatars' all become fond of MC which is where the quick harem-accusation comes from(?)

Why does this book make feminists (from TERFs to third wave+ feminists) argue over its meaning? How is it different to Mulan?

I'm close to midway maybe on the final book. An excerpt from book 2:
>Platt hit the princess again, bloodying her mouth. He attempted to enter her. In his excitement, he instead ejaculated across her white belly. He screamed a curse and slapped her, front and backhand.
made me lol

This book has been influential, at least in gaining something out of it because the characters feel like actual distinctive beings and it aligns with how I'd like to write characters in an eventual book. So much shit I read, maybe due to being self-pub nonsense makes characters feel so sterile, as if every conversation they stand at attention like automatons, gazing into each other's eyes and having mechanical conversations to move the plot along.

>>19973581
That is one of the worst covers I've ever seen in my life

>>19973702
I don't know if he had control over the cover illustration. Most authors don't but I'm not sure how far that extends into ebooks. The one image of the physical paperback I found looked darker and much better but it was a small image.
Here is two covers from the single titles in the trilogy.

>get hit by a mobile meth-lab going 90km/h
>die instantly
>wake up good as new in what seems to be a crowded market square
>stand on your feet and look around for a second
>everyone seems to be in the early medieval era
>you're wearing beggar's rags and have nothing else on you
>the people are ignoring you so you find a quiet spot to eavesdrop
>hear the crowd discussing gossip, barter, and nonsense in an odd but legible accent
>overhear "Sweet Sejenus, I can't believe there's going to be a Holy War!"
>think about that for two seconds
Legitimately, what do?

I don’t think I’m ready for the end of this novel bros.

>>19972448
He's said in interviews that the worst president of his lifetime was JFK because everyone loved and trusted him and he got us into Vietnam, and Nixon was the best president because he taught people not to trust the government.
For him it was anything but pretentious it was pressing.
Reagan and Trump are two other great examples of people falling for heroes with terrible results.

fuck you /sffg/ you are so dumb

Literary books are barely even read by anyone and I’ve only read them when forced to at school or uni. What makes fantasy and sci fi different? Is it the need to tell old tales of yore or the desire to speculate about the future respectively?

>>19974069
They're fun

>>19974026
Yes

>>19972358
Comfy OP image.

Any notable scifi quotes that give you chills? Mine is
>Henceforth space by itself, and by itself, are doomed to fade away into mere shadows, and only a kind of union of the two will preserve an independent reality.

Are there any modern fantasy novels that deal with themes of heroism and nobility of character in a positive light? Most modern fantasy novels I've read disregard these qualities in leu of slightly-edgy cynicism.

Just finished reading the Portal Wars Saga or atleast skimmed it since the last few books were a chore. MC is a joyless cultivation protagonist and honestly his cheating wife was a more interesting character than him even with the 10 pages over 7 books she got.

I don't want to sound racist, but why is the Agatha Christie novel Passenger to Frankfurt in the big sci-fi torrent? Is it actually sci-fi? I didn't want to read the wiki summary of the book in case it has spoilers.

>>19974267

>>19974271
>MC is a joyless cultivation protagonist
Best protagonist

> his cheating wife was a more interesting character
Lol, she is a shit character, the only good thing about her is that she got maybe 10 pages in the book. I do hope mc eventually kills her (like he should have in early book 1). Killing her lover and making her terrified of mc was a funny part though, I enjoyed it.

I'd like to thank the guys who shilled this extensively like five threads back, and can attest them good taste.
I read Kings of the Wyld before, and was dissappointed in it being yet another ironic deconstruction, even if it had shards if sincerity and heart.
This is just undistilled good stuff.

>>19974267

>>19974331
I love this because by the end of the series even the "villains" are heroes.

>>19973717
These both look really good, the second one gives me grittier gundam vibes

>>19972795
You can practically smell the unwashed grime and cheeto breath emanating form this post.

>>19974267
Then stop reading a small subset of modern books only.

>They killed the king. They pinned it on two men. They chose poorly.

How about this? I read it a long time ago, I thought it was pretty good at the time.

>>19972673
I just complete the full word: Poultry

>>19974588
Sullivan is pretty good. I read this by him. I always get the feeling that he would make a really good DnD author, because his books manage to be epic, grounded and approachable at the same time.

>>19974332
Sounds interesting. Is it kinda comfy?

>>19974621
yeah, plus slave collars

>>19974626
Comfy slave collars?
Anyway, I put it on the list.

>>19973581
Why does this cover remind me of Heroes of Might and Magic?

>>19974334
They're technically human-sized battlesuits but it does get gritty at points.

>>19973740
jee whilikers that prince of arithau sounds cool!

>>19974637
it has that vibe fr fr

>>19972891
King of pulp. King of fantasy. Simple as.

>>19975122
he's a shitter lovecraft

/BRS/ > /sffg/.

Simple as.

anyone read anything similar to mike carey's felix castor series? cant find something similar

>>19975827
Try the Male Protag list.

>>19975892
Out of these I've read Lawrence, Martin, Gaiman, Sandersoi, Sullivan. Also Grossman but The Magicians was absolute drivel and I couldn't finish it.

>>19975176
Read more.

>>19972382
King of normie fantasy, more like.

>>19975827
Try Charlie Huston, there isn't anything quite like Felix Castor (fuck that succubus for turning lez)

>>19972687
It's Pole.

When is the next Daniel Black book coming out?

Did the author die?

>>19975017
>Knows about HoMaM
>Zoomer
What on earth?

Did anyone read a book with a thicc girl character? like not just breast but the writer talking about her having a big butt? I feel like its rare.

>>19976534
because white guys like big breasts on a bean pole female.

You need smut where they talk about thicc girls, like Heretic Spellblade.

I need books with magical engineering

>>19976534
I remember the girl from the first Spellsinger book (the girl from the magical world, not the one they bring in from the real world later who knows how to fight and stuff because she grew up with brothers or whatever shit they pull) being described as pretty thicc. Bad book though.

>>19976622
Surely there's somewhere better than here for self-pub and webnovel recs.

>>19976601
Yeah its always a slim girl or a girl with medium to large breasts, I just checked Heretic Spellbound and it looks interesting, I just feel like I will hate the main guy character.
>>19976644
Was he describing her in a lewd way and making seem like she is hot, or is he just saying she is a plumb woman?

>>19976734
Pretty lewd. It talks about the protagonist sitting oppsite her in the back of a cart or something and she's swaying in the way girls with nice asses will on the train or wherever.

>>19976741
>she's swaying in the way girls with nice asses will
HNNNG, this is exactly what I was looking for, Thank you!

Fuck ESL translators translating into English. Every other wuxia novel is translated by someone who can’t string a basic sentence together without fucking up tense or something else. And because the novels have already been translated by someone, they’ll never be picked up by anyone that has a semblance of control over the language.

>>19976851
>they’ll never be picked up by anyone
I've seen multiple translations for the same book multiple times, which makes me anxious which one to choose.

Just finished the first Mistborn book (The Final Empire); if was packed with action at the end but somehow it felt very anti climatic; I hope the pacing is better in the other two.

Who's the best protagonist and antagonist in recent fantasy? Pre-2000s obviously.

>>19976915

I thought Final Empire was alright but it didn't convince me enough to read onto the next books I might need to re-read it but after reading God Emperor of Dune you can see heavily where he drew inspiration for Lord Ruler from Herbert but Herbert did everything better that Sanderson set out to do

>>19976915
Really? I felt like the ending part and the undercover part was the best, I hated the action beside a couple of ones in specific areas I don't want to spoil.

The second one I feel focuses on the action more but I'm still reading.

>>19976960
the was too much set up for the lord ruler, he was disappointing

>>19976968
He wasn't as overpowered as I thought but the way it happened was convincing and so satisfying to me.

>>19976975
I guess, I also don't like how Vin is getting super powerful so fast, I know she is the MC but some of the stuff she pulls out is too much for her experience; some of it is almost mary sue level.

>>19976731
Shit sucks. Goodreads isn't too much better.
>go to /r/progressionfantasy
>daily cradle circlejerk thread
sasuga

>>19977013
She didn't seem overpowered to me. She just can take some beating you can get surprised, the way she wins seems convincing but it can be surprising she is standing after the fight.

>>19977077
Can someone rewrite this in English First Language?

>>19977110
Vin = non-overpowered

Anybody have some good power fantasy recommendations. Ones where MC has clear goals on what to accomplish after gaining power? Something that doesn't feel like a monotonous grind to an undetermined power level for no absolute reason except muh immortality. Also, it would be nice if the series focused on the political implications of all-powerful magic wielding fuckers. Lastly, it would be nice if the magic system is coherent and not a background setting.

>>19977117
Explain to this grandpa how you achieved such deep insights into the Dao of ESL Comprehension at such a young age

>>19977117
No I meant like:
>She didn't seem overpowered to me. She can just take a beating, you'd be surprised. The way she wins seems unconvincing so it can be surprising that she is still standing after a fight.
But I'm not quite sur that's what anon meant to write, that's just the closest proper english rewrite I can do without changing it too much.

>>19977144
non-pozzed school

>>19977144
That senior has clearly reached the Comprehension stage.

>>19977145
Thanks, I will try to improve.

>>19977142
You want fries what as well?

>>19977142
Read Cradle.

>>19977177
So I got it correct? If so you're not doing too bad, you can still be understood it just takes some logical thinking to interpret the little errors.

>>19977185
no

>>19977169
Impossible! Are you saying that fellow cultivator is approaching the legendary Transcending Grammar stage?

>An ESL and an autist maturely work out a communication issue
>Two or more reddit faggots sucking each other off because they are brainlet faggots
I shouldn't be surprised this is a literature board after all, obviously the place for immature fuckwits to congregate!

>>19977224
Make a post about it in the Bakker thread

>>19977201
I believe that accomplished Senior could defeat opponents not only in the weak Transcending Grammar stage, but the medium as well. His insight into the Dao of ESL Comprehension and Translation suggests a foundation rivaled by no other at his stage of advancement.

where is soulship 5
where is choice of magic 5
someone with a facebook check their pages

Fuck cultivation honestly. The power levels never make any sense and the whole concept itself is a mess. Like why do they care so much about immortality, what are you even going to do once you become an immortal? Half of the protagonists are joyless and don't care about anything around them but for some reason want to become immortal so they can live through the shit they clearly dislike for the rest of eternity?? The cultivation cycle is never really explained and almost every single author glosses over it with contrived powerlevels. Also, why does every character in these novels act like bugmen with stale unmotivated personalities. All of them have no individuality of their own except their powerlevel, social status, and looks. There is no emotional depth in a cultivation novel and all of the character's reactions feels like the author is following a web flowchart. Even the goddam names of the characters never make any sense and are as distinct as the average bugman. Like is the family name first or last and why is the translator even adding the family name for the English version? Why do the characters also have nicknames that people use just to make you confused on who the fuck they're talking about? Magic will always be better because atleast characters can recognize that a massive fireball will demolish them and not the immortal golden core grand earth daoist that looks like a 17 year old but can punch hard. Half of magic's supremacy is because most of these stories are set in medieval european society which is much more superior than chinese dynastys where the setting is too fucking restrictive to actually have anything interesting happen. The average cultivation novel is as soulless as China itself.

>>19977344
>Also, why does every character in these novels act like bugmen with stale unmotivated personalities. All of them have no individuality of their own except their powerlevel, social status, and looks.

It's a chink genre and that's what chinks are like.

>>19977362
they have no inner conflicts literally no soul. The characters either deeply care about their social status or completely disregard it, no inbetween no nothing.

>>19976958
>recent but at least 20 years old
=\
Casmir from Lyonesse probably.

>>19977376
You just described 99% of East Asians.

>>19977344
>for some reason want to become immortal so they can live through the shit they clearly dislike for the rest of eternity??
I for one, would love to spend eternity bitching about how fucking stupid the human race is!

>>19977376
Yes, welcome to chink bugman psych 101. Face is everything, social status is everything, morality is only useful when it helps you save face.
If you read a lot of chink fiction you'll also be familiar with the concept of advancement through pills, because being able to buy your way to success is just as valid as achieving success by yourself to them, because the only thing that actually matters is outward appearance of success.

>>19977344
>The power levels never make any sense and the whole concept itself is a mess.
Why is Voldemort stronger than any mage in Harry Potter series? He's undying but undyingness doesn't mean you are stronger. Voldemort's Diffindo spell isn't better than the same spell of any mage. Cultivator at least can justify this shit.
>so they can live through the shit they clearly dislike for the rest of eternity
Read Lord Xue Ying, author states that without a strong will (dao heart concept) you will die or become crazy.
>for some reason want to become immortal
Mortals constantly reborn in Samsara/Yellow Springs/other underworld. That means you are live in an endless cycle under the thumb of Heaven and Dao. Cultivators have a chance to break this cycle and control their own destinies.

>>19977429
>Why is Voldemort stronger than any mage in Harry Potter series? He's undying but undyingness doesn't mean you are stronger. Voldemort's Diffindo spell isn't better than the same spell of any mage. Cultivator at least can justify this shit.

The reason some stories don't explain the magic is because its supposed to be fantastical like the genre name fantasy, this doesn't seem to be the goal of most cultivation novels as there is supposed to be underlying rules where they take in something and then cultivate it inside them to somehow reach a certain level with a cool name. There is no indication of mystery its just not fucking explained.

>Read Lord Xue Ying, author states that without a strong will (dao heart concept) you will die or become crazy.
Does every cultivation story have underlying rules that they don't explain, why the fuck do I have to read another story to understand another?
>Mortals constantly reborn in Samsara/Yellow Springs/other underworld. That means you are live in an endless cycle under the thumb of Heaven and Dao. Cultivators have a chance to break this cycle and control their own destinies.
What the fuck are you even saying? They have a chance to break the cycle to do what? To control their destiny to do what? Whats wrong with being fucking reborn? How do they know in the first place that their own destiny is already decided????!?!? ARE THE PEOPLE YOU WRITE ABOUT EVEN FUCKING HUMAN AND NOT A SPECIES IN A NEVERENDING RAT RACE FOR A GOAL THEY NEVER ACHIEVE?

>>19976035
Hehe, a toilet cleaner, easy to remember.

>>19976851
Tbqh most xanxia/wuxia is garbage. It is not easy to write a good novel (chinese or western) but having an addition handicap of commie goverment just make it a lot harder.

>>19977574
Oh, I know. If there were a lot of good chinklit I wouldn’t be so upset. But I am addicted to it and too autistic to read writing at the level of most translations.

>>19977250
>choice of magic 5
Book 3 was progressive trash, but book 4 was even worse.

>>19977497
>ARE THE PEOPLE YOU WRITE ABOUT EVEN FUCKING HUMAN AND NOT A SPECIES IN A NEVERENDING RAT RACE FOR A GOAL THEY NEVER ACHIEVE?
Not him, but that sounds exactly like entry level buddhist cosmology desu. We need a cultivation story where some monk effortlessly btfo's a bunch of insanely powerful bugmen cultivators then redpills them on Buddhism aaannd I just realized I'm describing Journey to the West as I'm typing this.

Anyone care for some monkey piss?

>>19977706
I have some india pale ale in the fridge.

>>19977714
I’ll take some. No one ever said cultivation was easy.

>>19977344
>Half of the protagonists are joyless and don't care about anything around them but for some reason want to become immortal
How is this a bad thing? It is the the drive, the obsession, the determination to achieve a goal by any means necessary, while most western magicians are just coomers that care more about drama and following the rules. I can't stand western fantasy anymore.

>>19977429
>Why is Voldemort stronger than any mage in Harry Potter series? He's undying but undyingness doesn't mean you are stronger. Voldemort's Diffindo spell isn't better than the same spell of any mage
Hp magic system is literally retarded.

>>19977497
>They have a chance to break the cycle to do what? To control their destiny to do what? Whats wrong with being fucking reborn?
Why do you want to die? And be reborn countless of times repeating same miserable life over and over again instead of taking control of your destiny and becoming an immortal in a forever young body? The whole point is to be in control of yourself and your destiny and be able to do whatever you want.

Western authors: Immortality is... LE BAD
Eastern authors: Immortality is... LE GOOD

>>19977751
>How is this a bad thing? It is the the drive, the obsession, the determination to achieve a goal by any means necessary, while most western magicians are just coomers that care more about drama and following the rules. I can't stand western fantasy anymore.
Its because there is no reason for these people to go after this goal when most of them seem to be joyless and hate living. There must first be a why for someone to set their sights on a goal.
>Why do you want to die? And be reborn countless of times repeating same miserable life over and over again instead of taking control of your destiny and becoming an immortal in a forever young body? The whole point is to be in control of yourself and your destiny and be able to do whatever you want.
Stuff becomes meaningless the more you do it, take control of your destiny to do what? None of these fuckers have any wants in their lives. There is no why in a cultivation protagonist actions it just is for them. YA fantasy villians are literally more reasonable than them.

>>19977785
Indian authors: bobs and vegene is... LE GOOD
Canadian authors: bobs and vegen is.. LE BAD

>>19977785
Eastern authors are correct while western authors just sacrifice the male mc to save the female lead.

This is one of the few seething goodreads reviews where I thought it could be a post written here.

Kyrgyzstani authors: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE TINGRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

>>19977785
Yes

>>19977856
>>19977865
is.... is that a woman!

>>19977811
>Stuff becomes meaningless the more you do it, take control of your destiny to do what? None of these fuckers have any wants in their lives. There is no why in a cultivation protagonist actions it just is for them. YA fantasy villians are literally more reasonable than them.
Well if cultivator lives for 10000 years and decides hes had enough, that is also fine, it is his decision. But to die of old age or be murdered for being too weak, that is absolutely stupid. This is why western authors are so pathetic. Magic opens so many possibilities (immortality one of them) but before reading chinese novels I have never evem imagined that an mc might instead of fighting for his shitty love interest instead fight for himself. At best it is the "most despicable", worst of the worst villains who actually has some common sense and is seeking immortality and of course because of dumb western mentality he gets killed off instead.

>>19977855
is the book in question any good?

Any books with good magic systems and world where that magic system is skillfully woven into its society and upper class? I always dislike it when magic seems to be a separate part of the world in most books.

God damnit Scott, stop fucking around shit posting all day and write the fucking No God.

>>19977497
>The reason some stories don't explain the magic is because its supposed to be fantastical like the genre name fantasy
Harry Potter's magic plays a key role in the story but we don't know even a basic rules. Even Star Wars series has more comprehensive magic rules without losing a mystery.
>Does every cultivation story have underlying rules that they don't explain
Yeah, some authors don't explain Wuxing shit for example. They imply it like common sense for a reader.
>How do they know in the first place that their own destiny is already decided?
You will die if you are not undying. Is this that hard to understand?
>ARE THE PEOPLE YOU WRITE ABOUT EVEN FUCKING HUMAN
Cultivators aren't humans as we are.

>>19977890
>but before reading chinese novels I have never evem imagined that an mc might instead of fighting for his shitty love interest instead fight for himself
What kind of western stuff are you reading bro? I don't know how you can say western novels are repetitive while reading fucking anti-copyright chinese bugmen shite? There are a lot of reasons for western mcs such as revenge, wanting to rule others, or trying to protect who he cares about. The dumb western mentality you are talking about is only in the lowest of the low books, the chinese mentality is ever present in all their works because of their government/bug mentality.

>>19977899
I really loved it but it’s not for everyone. Maybe it gets overhyped a bit by Moorcock. But the epic nature of it paired with a beautiful plot had me wanting to savour it.

Anything fun like Red Rising or the early Black Company books?

I got memed into Bakker and serious sci-fi/fantasy seems completely meh in comparison and I keep dropping things.

I figured I'd just go for something fun. I already read all the Red Risings though and Black Company started to get bad after the second book.

Otherwise I might read ASOIAF again, but starting with A Clash of Kings because it starts pretty slow.

what the fuck is this waifu plot

>>19977943
>don't know how you can say western novels are repetitive
They are not. Western mc(implying that he is actually a male) will do a thousand different things but seeking immortality is not one of them, mc will also fight for his king, his blacked woman and every homeless bum and his dog in the Kingdom but he will not fight for himself while disregarding everyone else. He might be some grey protag but at that decisive moment he will turn into all white knight heroic idiot.

>>19978012
Maybe because fighting for immortality is retarded?

>>19977899
It's very good

>>19977971
the lies of locke lamorra

>>19978035
And dying is not.

>>19978012
Not true, Anson Guthrie from Poul Anderson's Harvest of Stars is a prime example, he uploads his brain and eventually reincarnates himself in flesh and blood, but he also seeds free human colonies everywhere he goes and before that his fireball corporation was also an agent for the general betterment of a free human race.

>>19978066
Stop replying to the shitposter, you dumb faggot.

>>19976765
>tfw you came to this board to escape coomers

>>19978486
that's pretty dumb of you
coomers are the foundation of society, before the radio waves or the interwebs were drawing and books, and you thought to come here to escape this?

>>19977971
If you want fun try Blood Song (just the first one and treat it like a stand alone novel) or the first Lies of Locke Lamora (the 2nd one is okay but the third one is just shit).
It's funny because I think Red Rising is massively overrated when people try to hold it up as an example of good science fiction and I made the mistake of going to the books reddit page to see how it was discussed and was appalled by the levels of idiocy of people who also enjoyed the books. But simultaneously it's one of the most fun books series I've read and I love the roman space opera aesthetic, never quite know where to place it.

>>19977817
>Indian authors
>Canadian authors
At this point, what's the difference?

>every single woman who meets him immediately falls in love with him and fucks him
is this nigga for real?

>>19978499
>Coomers are the foundation of society
Kek, that made me chuckle ngl
This is technically true, but why do I find coomers talking about coomer things in public disgusting?

>>19978514
That's really just Cyriaca, and she's a huge slut.

>>19977987
Nice, grand setting and ideas but I'm starting to think chinks are absolutely shit at writing characters. The ones in the first and third book also suck.

>>19978526
You are jealous because of whatever puppet strings in your life prevent you from being so openly base?

>>19978569
Was coomer talk the thing I needed to become cultured and sophisticated all along?

>>19978593
Yeah, unchain the coom.

>>19978593
Maybe, it's arguable.
I have everything I want except a way to get my coom inside a woman. =/

2 books defeated me this evening. I tried both The Black Company and Titus Groan, as recommended by people here. I lost interest in mere pages with both of them. I started reading a klingon novel instead

>>19978687
this isn't high education, anon
this is juvenile entertainment, all that's important is that you're entertained

>>19978687
>I lost interest in mere pages with both of them.
The Black Company requires at least a few chapters to get into.

>>19978704

Personally if I'm not engaged within a few pages I'm out.

>>19978729
Probably for the best then.

Sarah J Maas Reigns Supreme

>>19976024
thanks, I enjoyed felix castor and haven't found anything that scratches the itch.

>>19976958
>Who's the best protagonist and antagonist in recent fantasy? Pre-2000s obviously.
Severian and Agia.

>>19977855
>this edgelord has Saturn Devouring His Children as userpic
top kek

Give me some fantasy books in which explicitly Christian cosmology is real and immanent.
I read Gene Wolfe's Wizard Knight and that was pretty good. Silmarillion and Narnia books go without saying. What else is out there, excluding pic related?

>>19979072
Not quite the same, but read the Space Trilogy?

>>19979093
the CS Lewis one? I haven't read it yet, but I've been meaning to get it. I know about it at any rate, I'm wondering if there's more stuff out there that I've missed.

>>19972669
Never read any Anderson but that cover looks comfy as heck.
>>19978983
Good choice anon, Agia was my favorite character.
>>19979072
Lord of the World might be what you’re looking for but I haven’t read it.

/sffg/... is healing...

>>19979214
?

What's the 773 Naruto/Hinata doujin equivalent of SFF?

Post underrated prose stylists in SF/F. I’ll start: Ballard.

>>19974581
Old books are autistic, they lack powerlevels and progressive increase in power.

>>19978500
Red Rising is one of the best long haul road trip series I've listened to via audiobook but also retarded.

This ended up being a perk for criss crossing the US alone because it was propulsive enough to keep me interested, but didn't make me want to rewind if I zoned out at all. Most books that aim for that end up too dumb and too hackneyed though.

>>19979935
>listened to via audiobook
it's over for western civilization

>>19979072
Between two Fires

>>19980136
Redpill me on this, I've seen it recommended to me on my amazon book searches

>>19980247
No nonsense 12th century plague story about a fallen knight, a drunk priest and a weird little girl. It's billed as "horror" but idk if I'd call it that, more like a really depressing road trip where bad thing after bad thing happens. The Christian gods abd devils play a central part in the narrative, both spiritually and physically. Angels and demons show up but it always feels... important when they do.

>>19980268
>more like a really depressing road trip where bad thing after bad thing happens
yuck

I'm reading the Draka trilogy by S.M. Stirling and this is the most fun alt history / SF I've found in years, since the Leviathan trilogy.

>>19975892
Dont remember any incest in Bakker
There are no gays, at best some characters are bisexuals
There's no "regular" rape either, only rape as a result of conquest

>>19980544
Did you mentally block the part where Ikurei Xerius III had his first handjob from his mother when he was a teenager and the part where he fucks her shortly before it's revealed that she's a skin-spy?

>>19980544
>There are no gays
There is hard gays
>There's no "regular" rape
There is hard rape!

>>19980552
You got me, this thing that is mentioned once in the passing totally counts, I was thinking more about incest as a romantic/sexual love between siblings. Plus Xerius was just a deviant in general, I'd say the graphic scene where he deflowers an underage slave girl overshadows some mild mommy ss which all totally-not-roman emperors were doing since time immemorial

>>19977987
That whole plot is irrelevant. Power through it, and you'll be rewarded: The second half is far superior.

>>19979938
>civilization destroyed by listening to low brow, popcorn flick fantasy novel over audiobook
Kys my man

>>19980591
>he deflowers an underage slave girl overshadows some mild mommy ss
WTF

No incest in Bakker
No rape in Bakker
No gays in Bakker
No underage deflowering in Bakker
No mommy ss in Bakker
No curved phalluses in Bakker
No scat in Bakker

>>19980986
>No scat in Bakker
how can that be when his writing is shit?

>It's another fantasy novel where the author falls for 5+ pov meme
dropped

>>19981121
This has been an issue going back to Wheel of Time at least, perhaps cemented by GRRM printing money in recent years. At this point its a red flag that this way lies bloat - and decades of filler books slowly churned out and hundreds of pages dedicated to showing irrelevent busy-work just to keep some characters relevant.

How difficult is it to make your own epub? Like if I want to convert a short story from a webpage into an epub, so I can read it on my reader instead of a computer screen?

>>19981201
super easy, barely an inconvenience

>>19981121
Yeah, I usually ignore a book if I see that it has multiple POVs in them. They usually spell it out in the blurb these days.

>>19981201
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/webtoepub/akiljllkbielkidmammnifcnibaigelm?hl=en

>>19981218
I've never gotten this extension to successfully work when trying to (manually) create my own epubs, and this doesn't have chapters either.
Got any other suggestion?

How did an indie genre, like cyberpunk, become the most important in science fiction?

>>19981229
Oh. you want to manually create it? That only has a few sites that it supports.

Calibre might be what you need.

If you can code html you can do epubs easy. Epubs are basically html files in a different container.

https://publicism.info/writing/ebooks/6.html

>>19981232
cause normalfags don't care about space opera

>>19981229
I've just copy/pasted short stories and articles into a simple .txt file before and read them off my eReader. The formatting will not be optimized but it worked fine for me.

>>19981232
To be honest, being hyped up for years only to come out and be shallow and shit and almost completely forgotten absolutely fits in with cyberpunk as a genre.

>>19981263
>>19981267
I've copypasted the transcript into Word and I'm converting through calibre. Thanks guys.

>>19981268
We live in a cyberpunk world but the punks are boomers

just finished the Mask of the Sorcerer, enjoyed it a lot. i don't think it's a masterpiece as the guy who recommended it seemed to suggest, but very solid. the very last part felt a bit underwhelming, the conclusion of the conclusion

would it qualify as grimdark? i don't know exactly what grimdark is

>>19981316
Read the Burrow by Smiley for Grimdark.

>>19981316
>grimdark
King Bakker

>>19981337
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18050226-the-barrow

not bad

>>19972358
>>>Discord
>Never going to be created.
uh, why?

>>19981466
Because we're not trannies (well most of us aren't)

>>19981470
I've been on discord since 2015, when I joined there weren't any trannies on it. Also trannies are a symptom of society, you're going to find them everywhere soon enough including here. Just stop using everything online. Stop breathing too because trannies breathe air.

>>19981476
>I've been a tranny since 2015
keep that to yourself, nobody asked

>>19981443
Only the book 1 was good after that it series turned into progressive trash.

>>19981494
yeah this ones pretty good tho

>>19981476
i was tehre long ago, although not sure if 2015, and idk about trannies but there were several faggots. the owner once threatened to ban me if i said nigger or something like that, i felt disheartened

>>19981466
There's already a discord and based off >>19981476 you'd fit in considering they're all normalfags.

I'm non-normal

>>19981476
Denial. I hardly ever use Discord and even I've seen it in action, the tranny creeps in with a random girly name then does the reveal after a few messages - then nobody wants to be "that guy" so the tranny sticks around and eventually volunteers to become a mod whenever there is an opening. The rest, as they say, is history.

>>19979072
I hope that Diablo anon is still here to read this.

Can I get help with a book? The Shattered World by Michael Reeves. How can I download it?

>>19981526
lib gen
b-ok
z-lib

>>19981540
Uh ok

>>19981526
right click save as

>>19981526
Step 1: Correctly spell the author's name.
Step 2: Search for it with your preferred download method, of which there are many.
Step 3: Download it
Step 4: Read it

>>19981558
>>19981568
Thanks

Any hidden Russian sff gems that I can read and study the language with at the same time?

>>19981582
https://libgen.is/fiction/?q=reaves+shattered+world

>>19981568
Any way to skip step 1 and 2?

>>19981624
Yes, of course, by having it provided for you. You can skip 3 by having someone put in your computer for you. Even 4 can be skipped by someone else reading it instead.

>tfw no fat pink mast

>>19981634
I don’t want to give anyone access to my computer, but an audiobook version sounds nice.

Ugh the normalfags around me keep recommending books written by women.

>>19981648
I didn't mean audiobook. I meant literally someone else reads it and you have nothing to do with it. Apologies for the confusion.

>>19981651
Don’t worry that, anon. I was only making a joke.

>>19981650
>implying that isn't here as well

>>19981650
I seriously hope you told them off

is this shit any good i see it everywhere

>>19981655
Sorry, but the cultural artifact known as a "joke" is incompatible with my logic circuits.

>>19981676
it's a shoujo reverse harem

>>19981623
Man, it won't d/l for me

>>19981525
The sequel is almost as good (almost better in some ways) but there's a really odd and out of place lesbian sex scene between the protagonist (who is herself otherwise heterosexual) and her handmaiden that's written actually erotically and voyeuristically as opposed to sterilely and objectively the way Barlowe handled the disgusting degenerate vile pleasures of villainous demons doing it.

I HOPE HE GETS OFF HIS FUCKING ASS AND WRITES THE CONCLUSION

>>19981677
But I do, and you gave me the opportunity to discover the joke. So thank you.

>>19981693
Assuming you're the same anon, you're inattentive, incompetent, or both. Fortunately, there are many more ways to download it. However, the spoonfeeding ends here.

>>19981722
I don't have a PC goddamn I'm sorry

>>19981691
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otome_game

>>19981724
You're an underaged phone poster? Intriguing!

>>19981730
I'm on a Fire tablet and I'm gen x

>>19981724
Which file format would you need then?

>>19981736
A PDF would be most helpful, sir

>>19981734
Dude, fuck off already.

>>19981745
U first, bitch

>>19981745
Stop giving it attention.

>>19981623
The first book is in html format. Interesting

>>19981759
Fuck u too, just wanted some help, faggo

>>19981741
https://mega.nz/file/Qyox2ShT#jkjs27utqYxQGkHANfLX_3-1bk0y0wB2__obb35yuHo

>>19981776
Ty so much!! I'm basing a d&d on this and I needed the sources material TY so much sir!!!!

>>19981676
>reverse harem stories get lauded
>regular harem stories are called creepy and perverted
it's time for romance equality in fiction

>>19981798
>>19981691
so its about a slut?

Black Seed

>>19981798
Harem stories are for compensating cucks. Reverse harems are just reality.

>>19981798
ALL male-oriented romance is criticized for being wish fulfillment while female romance is popular for the same thing. The double standard is real and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it.

Where are my bisexual male, transgender, and non-binary romances!?

This thread was doing fine, so why the sudden shitposts?

>>19981864
americans

>>19981864
Underage newfags are like women: All the same.

>>19981864
Pansexual polyamorists unite!

The Witcher series has been bretty good so far.

>>19981871
Seething since 2014

>>19981859
All over the place, I'm fucking sick of it

>>19981859
You joke as if there isn't a table full of them at the front of every book store in America

>>19981881
You probably should stop reading them then.

>>19981867
>>19981871
>>19981864
They also have no lives whatsoever other than shitposting here. Notice how it got worst after school was over.

>>19981848
>is so fucking stupid he actually think the same criticism isn't widely made of both garbage by most people
Get out of that bubble, you massive fucking retard, holy shit, you massive crybaby bitch.

>>19981877
Read Elric, literally the same shit but better.

>>19981697

He'll do some on site research for that, if you get what I mean.

>>19981888
Not in Texas. We just passed a bill that says being transgender is child abuse and parents can lose custody over it. Also all those books are banned by law as well.

>>19981608
Beetle in the Anthill by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky

I finally found an urban fantasy story with a love interest that was a virgin before she got with the mc.
How ridiculously rare.

>>19981893
No, I actually said that they are the same thing. My complaint is that one is popular and one isn't. No need to chimp out like a common pavement ape.

>>19981914
well?
don't be a cunt, share that bitch with us

>>19981890
Imagine having a life but still posting here.

>>19981922
Overworld Chronicles
The most wish fulfillment nerd fantasy story that has existed which makes it based

>>19981931
What are you? A deadbeat? Get a life.

cant believe he did my nigga dirty like that

>>19981935
Deadbeat? Yeah, Calli is fine, but I wouldn't call myself that. She isn't my 推し .

>>19981932
>20-book series
I admire the author's work ethic if nothing else

>>19981937
You should've. Everything was spelled out in the first book in the first chapter basically.

>>19981945
>zoomer
Of course, why should I be surprised that you’re an underage faggot.

>>19981954
i read that like two years before the other books

>>19981957
Clearly you aren't aware of the relevant age demographics.

>>19981969
Does it even matter when you have no life and you spend time shitposting?

>>19981964
Cry more.

>>19981976

New thread
>>19981978

>>19981974
Nice rhetorical question.

who are these fucking american new fags that keep making new threads the moment we hit bump limit
nigga we're on fucking page one on /lit/
4chan never recovered from the american election raid and its consequences are still felt today.

>>19981996
Way to out yourself as a newfag.

>>19982003
Tu quoque

>>19981996
You’re trying too hard.

>>19981996
i had to make the new thread to get the upvotes

>>19981996
>4chan never recovered from the american election raid and its consequences are still felt today.
I hate how true this is, fuck they really ruined this place

>>19981996
Bitch about the endless shitpost instead. That shit is killing this general.

>>19982015
People don’t report the shitposters, so mods don’t do anything when it gets out of hand.

What happened to the thread? Where did these people come from? All I wanted was to get book recommendations.

>>19982036
>Where did these people come from?
Considering the thread went to shit after school was let out, they're underage.

>>19982036
what sorta book you want

>>19982036
The bakkerfags come from Reddit, they don’t even hide that. Don’t know about the others, but most likely /pol/ or r9k/.

>>19982045
would like a book where the magic system is well integrated with its political society and social structure and preferably the setting being similar to medieval times (technology wise). no cultivation, no mistborn, and no wishy washy magic system please. I would also like fries with that

>>19982062
There's none like that.

>>19982066
fuck

>>19982069
You shot yourself in the foot when you said no cultivation, no mistborn, and no wishy-washy magic system. So, I don't know what you were expecting.

>>19982086
I'm fine with taking away the restrictions except cultivation god I hate cultivation.

>>19982090
Then read mistborn.

>>19982098
I read the first one and didn't like it, does it get better?

>>19982062
I know many books similar to that. Probably none of them are exactly what you want though.

>>19982110
I would be fine hearing what you have, I can read descriptions and see if I like what I see

>>19982112
Maybe later.

>>19982101
nope

>>19982062
Read A Shadow in Summer - although the setting is more of a medieval southeast Asian inspired one if thats an issue

>>19979072
Fuck off. Stop posting this shit every thread.

>>19981770
epub is literally html in a zip file

if only newfags would stop making a new general when it isn't needed

>>19981188
WoT handled it well by having them be actual PoVs with distinct (wrong) understandings of what the others were doing and thinking. The running "the other guy knows how to handle women" gag alone was better than anything GRRM did.