/lit/ - Literature

>>19999763
Fantasy/sci-fi isn't real literature and never will be.
>inb4 tolkien and wolfe

>>19999766
Do you feel better after posting dumb shit online? You sound like a massive faggot, get cucked.

>>19999766
it's not literature, it's entertainment

Thanks to that anon that recommended Malice by John Gwynne. Honestly, it was better than I expected and thankfully had no woke agenda that we commonly see in fantasy these days. I highly recommend it for fans of high fantasy that are looking for strong male characters and plenty of grey plotlines with multiple viewpoints.

how ye-olde and boring is Lud-in-the-Mist?

>>19999855
seen these at the bookstore, thought the covers looked like cheapo low-effort medieval-europe expy slop. sell me on it anon

>>19999855
>with multiple viewpoints.

Anyone know any good fantasy books that just follow one person? Nothing against the ensemble approach, but I am burnt out on it considering it is the approach all the major books take now.

Lord of the Rings would be a lot less popular if not for the brand recognition it has at this point for being the first modern fantasy-style book. By itself it isn't very good.

What's a good Conan book to start with? I tried a random short story and it made me cringe. It was the
>ohhhhh I wish I had my magic ring it gave me power uwu
>oh shit you my master has it and you're playing with it
then the rest of it is just a battle with Conan killing people

>>19999953
The Broken Sword is my personal fave and it came out in the first year. I think the first fantasy-style books are actually others like The Worm Ouroboros, but I'm not sure.

I'm rereading The Light Fantastic. How did Cohen grit his teeth on page 165 when he has none?

>>20000202
Sometimes, Pratchett overuses expressions like that. I think it's just a writing habit.

>>19999917
>>19999855
i have read 3 books in this series, could not be bothered to read the last, the breakdown:
>mc finds magic wolf, and he cares about it more than his father's death or his follower's injuries
>mc's love interest is a 5 foot something that regularly solos >8 feet giants
>mc's sister regularly acts wilfully towards her captors (the king of kings and his chief advisor, an actual demon in human form) to no punishment, though the advisor does promise to harm her the next time
>the advisor regularly divulges his plans to the mc's sister for no apparent reason
>illiteracy of the main cast in terms of geography of the reign, image related, the red circle is the capital of the mc's home. The king, his principal advisor and his warchief have served him and the kingdom for more than 10 years. A major plot point book 2 onwards is a fight at the green circle, which is an ancient giant fortress, that neither the warchief, the principal advisor or any other person serving in the red circle is aware of.
>a character in his mid 40's becomes a killing machine, singlehandedly killing more than 20 people in one go due to the power of a pedestalled pussy.
There are many more, read the books by all means, I read them to see the dregs which are acclaimed in today's publishing world

>>20000238

>>19999928
Try The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb, although its written in first person if you're OK with that, plus shes a woman.

>>20000238
the last book is actually the best one. Gwynne wrote a perfect ending to the series.

>>20000238
> >mc's sister regularly acts wilfully towards her captors (the king of kings and his chief advisor, an actual demon in human form) to no punishment, though the advisor does promise to harm her the next time
John Gwynne seems old fashioned (in a good way), he doesnt see men harm women. Youve been ruined by modern fantasy and wokeism.

That is it i give up, I will read a book written aby a femoid, Ursula Le Guin has the exact type of sci-fi I'm looking for so i will give her a try despite bad experiences with female writers in the past.

>>20000489
Why are you sexist?

>>20000489
she's a GOAT
you won't be misled

About a quarter of the way through this and seems pretty good so far.

>>20000489
There isnt a single good female writer.

>>20000606
i dont think Sanderson is a bad writer, i just think he rushes his books and tries to release as many of them as possible. He treats writing as a 9-5 job, which is incorrect and it certainly can be seen in his almost YA prose. I think if he took longer on each book we would get better output from him.

>>20000606
What do you find good about it?

>>20000618
Not him but this is the vibe I get from Sanderson generally. I write as a hobby and I see videos and blog posts of his posted constantly that try to break literature into some kind of autistic math formula where you can like plug things in here and there to get the most refined product. He doesn't approach his work like an artist he approaches it like a cook, one dash of magic here, a teaspoon of melodrama here, mix it together and voila - a fine product for the soi people to consume

>>20000489
read Black Sun Rising

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a-k6eaT-jQ
thoughts?

>>19999855
>thankfully had no woke agenda
based. we really need more books like this.

>>20000759
>wrote 5 manuscripts in 2 years in secret while still doing all of his regular work in public
I fucking kneel
He might never become a great writer but his enthusiasm and work ethic are otherworldly

>>20000759
based and disciplinepilled
He will be remembered for far longer than most of the other writers shilled here. He's by no means perfect, but it's an undeniable fact that the man is a writing machine. If he wants to use that effort to focus more on quantity over quality, that's his choice to make. Most would not be able to do the same in his position.

>>20000957
If he's so disciplined why can't he lose some fucking weight?

>>20000759
His writing can be hit or miss for me but fucking hell.

>>20000977
He's got big bones

>>20000977
He looks slimmer in that video than he has for some time.
>no titles
Undoubtedly more YA nobody asked for without any continuation of vital Cosmere stories.

>>20000985
3 of them are Cosmere.

>>20000985
1 of them is that (or a graphic novel he hasn't decided yet)
3 are cosmere books
1 is something else

>>20000977
That would take a chunk of his writing time away, which is obviously a very negative aspect for him.

>>20000977
He's strategically storing up fat to be able to go on writing binges without eating.

>>20000759
This made me like Sanderson a bit more. I like that they're standalone novels and not connected to his autismere and I'll probably try them because of that. Fuck backing a kickstarter though lmao

>>20001258
Uhh, anon? 3 of them are cosmere books, didn't you listen to a word he said?

>>20000990
>>20000992
I stand corrected. I still think it's gay to hide what they are AND hide them behind a paywall. Oh well.
>graphic novel
God I hope not. I forgot how White Sand ended even, or did it end? Was it 3 or 4 volumes total?

>>20001264
My bad I misspoke. They aren't connected to his current cosmere series which is what I'm interested in.

>>20000759
Kickstarter has raised >$4M in 2 hours

>>20001268
>>20001282

You can read the prose version for free of White Sand by signing up to his mailing list, it's quite good

>>20001366
I know. It's also non-canon and about 20ish years old at a rough guess.

>>20001362
Sandersquad, we won...

>>19999763
How much did you read in Feb?
I read 9 novels.

>>19999928
There are a lot that do. Some have been recently mentioned in the thread as being so and I expect there to be more. The qualifier "good" is ever so restrictive though.

>>20001371
I don't preorder sight unseen on principle but his reach is really impressive

>>20000440
>first person
That's more repulsive to me than it being written by a woman desu

>>20001362
>>20001371
>>20001383
The average pledge is about $300 per backer and roughly a third of all backers so far bought the $500 and up pack. That's crazy to me. Exclusively pirating ebooks for so long must have made me completely out of touch with other readers and how they value books

>>20001409
I don't think AAA author Sanderson's case here applies to the average writer.

>>20000977
I bet his fingers are muscular as shit

>>20001362
That's a productive year

>>20000618
>>20000633
I agree. I think "Sanderson stampedes" are simply the result of his careful outlining and actually trying to write for 20 000 words or so.

>>20000238
>read first couple of chapters
>character names like Aquilus, the eagle king, with man at arms Armatus
>close book
goodreads was the worst thing to happen to the genre

Books with a dreamlike feeling, like this one or the Riddle-Master of Hed?

>>20001823
fifth head of cerberus

>>20001882

>>19999763
Imager's Challenge, Imager Portfolio #2 - L.E. Modesitt Jr. (2009)

I was surprised by how this book went, for better and worse. Most of what happened in the first book is relegated to the background. This book is almost entirely focused from beginning to end on the justice system of the same city as the first book. The 25 year old protagonist is tasked with experiencing first hand how justice is carried out from beginning to end. For a majority of the book that means the protagonist is patrolling as a beat cop in the slums, which is not what I expected to be reading at all.

Even so, I enjoyed myself and put my misgivings aside. I would've preferred a more expansive setting than the city alone. I also would've liked more to have been done with the magic, though there is some experimentation with it in this one as well. This is a slow book, aside from the protagonist's personal advancement, that focuses on the details. I found a lot about how their society is ran to be disagreeable, though still interesting. As I wrote about the previous book, this isn't something I would expect the average reader to do if this doesn't seem like something the reader would enjoy.

I was intrigued the book seemed to tease that this could be an anti-villain origin story. The protagonist doesn't really mind that much to murder those personally inconvenient to him and collateral damage is acceptable. He also has a lot of concerns about the structure of society and his role in them. However, there are constant assassination attempts on him and those he cares about, and the powers that be would prefer he voluntarily tie his own hands. Some warnings are given about a potentially ruinous future as well, but by the end, it seemed like it was all just a tease, but I could be proven wrong yet by the third book. The System does do co-opting very well.

Overall, I simply enjoyed reading it and that's what matters most to me, though I can certainly understand why others wouldn't like it at all. I definitely prefer the first book to this one, though I'm giving it the same rating because each rating encompasses a lot.

Rating: 4/5

>>19999763
I just finished reading "a wizard of earthsea"
and it was fun in the beginning but the pursuit of the shadow got really fucking boring
are the next books any better?

Bakker taught me more about the nature of faith than the entire corpus of christian apologetics

looking at the mega recs folder, I would not have expected Gormenghast to get this much attention, I remember watching the series in the 90s and thinking the aesthetic was beautiful. looks like I will be getting the book soon.

>>20002180
probably not for you. the pursuit is not boring, the story and th eprose and the character development is supposed to capture you and keep you entertained, if that didn't happen this book you probably won't get engaged in the next ones either

>>20000759
>Quantity
>Quality

Pick one.

>>20002180
Read Tombs

>>20002214
What did you learn?

>>20002241
>the story and th eprose and the character development
Yeah, I guess I'm just a pleb but it was just too introspective for me

>>20001393
I usually don't like first person either, but sometimes it works.
The Farseer books fall in that category. I enjoyed reading them, but I don't have a problem with reading female authors. At least pre-2000s.

>>20002268
I learnt that Christians are fuckwits and the eternal golem of the Jew.

>>20002281
You didn't need bakker to learn that.

can't stop laughing each time i read the description for Gor. is it worth a read?

>>20002349
I've read Transman Gor at first

>>20002268
>20002268
God is a Spider

>>20002349
Fanfiction tier bdsm trash, for coomers only

>>20000238
sounds like kino

>>20000759
Disgusting, don't know why you people praise his work ethic when he pumps out water. He's had a few good books, like others here mention, the rest simply dilute the space.

>>20000957
How's this based lmao? He pumps out mostly garbage and a few good books. More like toxic waste, you need to get your brain checked.

>>20001906
This shit sucked ass, wouldn't even bother reading past the first chapter.

>>20001988
You must be delusional, it starts well enough then simply turns him "imaging" everything. The book becomes so dull and grey when literally everything is solved by "imaging".

>>20000759
I've said for years Sanderson's idea of taking a break from his writing projects it to start new writing projects.

What will ASOIAF be like when Sanderson has to finish the series?

>>20002476
What was it that made you dislike it?

>>20002555
Probably the shit chink grammar and translation.

>>20002600
but it gets better, anon... Kek
No, really it does and then it gets worse again.

It's finally coming out.

Jesus fuck. I hope it's good.

>>20002543
Either Sanderson just novelizes the TV show or he writes his own fanfic ending where Jon suddenly can't read or write and Bran becomes Jesus.

>>20002543
Sanderson has said he doesn't like asoiaf and hasn't read past the first novel because he thought Danny had to go through too much hardship.

If anyone was gonna finish asoiaf it would be Gaiman.

>>20002720
Sure he doesn't like it, doesn't mean he won't make the big bucks finishing it when George croaks.

>>20002483
I said as much, yes.

>>20002720
>If anyone was gonna finish asoiaf it would be Gaiman.
No, it'd be Daniel Abraham. He's worked with GRRM a lot and has already wrote the graphic novel. He's had multiple epic fantasy series and The Expanse.

>>20002349
The first two are pretty decent, but if you lived through the last two years, you've akready seen most of Norman's prognostications play out.

Is all fantasy just based on pre-existing folklore and mythology, with added modernist symbology?

Is there anything *truly original* in the world of fantasy?

>>20003021
You'd find a way to say it wasn't regardless

Maybe the two Expanse authors will finish ASOIAF? They're pals with George.

>>20002768
>The Expanse.
This really fucking pisses me off, how the FUCK did they manage to turn hard scifi into a goddamn housewife drama?!?!?
FUCKING SHITNIPPLES

>>20003059
I'd probably try. So what? Give me reccs.

God Emperor of Dune is so funny, Leto could easily kill people with his brain or use the voice to make his enemies kill themselves, instead he just flops on top of them like a cartoon anvil or piano

>>19999953
The Hobbit has always been the better of those books

>>20003021
>folklore and mythology
That is just a type of fantasy story.

>>20003080
>>20003021

Terra Ignota is truly original sci fi/fantasy. You'll say isn't fantasy at all, but it is

>>20003202
>The Earth of Terra Ignota has seen several centuries of near-total peace and prosperity. Technology is very advanced. Food can be synthesized. The workweek is 20 hours, but vocateurs, or vokers, voluntarily work much more because they love what they do. Everyone is publicly gender neutral, using they/them pronouns. Families are no longer nuclear, but are organized into co-housing collectives called bash'houses (from the Japanese i-basho, meaning 'home' but stronger).
pass

>>20003210
Filtered

>>20003021
Is all folklore and mythology based on pre-existing folklore and mythology, with added historical symbology?

>>20003102
The Hobbit is a lot better.

>>20003202
Got half way through Too Like the Lightning and dropped it. Palmer is way too enamored with how smart she thinks she is and doesn't understand men at all.

>>20002632
welp guess i'm rereading shades of grey

yeah i'm rereading too like the lightning and the old fashioned shit is boring again the second time around
here for the worldbuilding mostly

Idk why I like Warhammer 40k novels so much

Is hyperion worth reading? Am I going to have to read the whole series if I pick it up? Is it true that is has ultimately pro religious themes?

>>20003510
Hyperion is very good
Hyperion Falls is just okay
The Endymion books are stupid

>>20003580
Is the story satisfying enough without reading the stupid books?

>>20003588
Yes. They're completely unnecessary and I wish I hadn't read them. Hyperion is an amazing book that ends on a huge cliffhanger, which forces you to read Hyperion Falls but it's okay to stop there. You don't need THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TRANSPORTED THE VATICAN INTO SPAAAACEEE and all that.

Trying to read LOTR for the first time but it's annoying because I keep picturing the movie actors and scenes

>>20003382
If you think the novels are good you should check out the fanfiction. Particularly the stuff from old /tg/

I am near the end of Urth of the New Sun and...Man, what a journey this was.

Given that I have more questions than answers, I am feeling tempted to inmediatly turn back and re-read Shadow of the Torturer again. What at first seemed like a self-insert adventure turned to be far deeper than what I expected, and while something tells me that I did read a masterpiece, I am unable to put the pieces together yet.

Just started this.
It's pretty weird idk

Who's your favorite protagonist in an /sffg/ book? I'm thinking Bilbo even if I'm more of a scifi guy.

>>20004377
Cugel the Clever or Poldarn

>>20003382
Same, even if it's just shitty schlock I like to read one once in a while. Right now, I'm reading some of the Warhammer Crime novels; they're OK and make a good light reading when commuting to work but the amount of pozzed shit is sometimes suffocating.
Have you tried reading Ian Watson's novels? Nowadays they're shunned either because the lore is irrevelant (It does have Squats, Senseis and Genestealer cults that aren't related to Tyranids) or because of the amount of sex, but they're the only ones that I would truly recommend to someone as they're the only ones who manages to convey that grimdark baroque atmosphere from the old artworks into words (Pic related).
Not surprising, since Ian Watson is a professional, respectable SF writer even if he's a bit of a coomer. Just be sure to not read the recent re-written ones, as they removed a ton of weird passages and characters.

>>20004377
Rand al'Thor

>cucked by Crang
Memes aside, I see why this is also titled Pawns of Null-A. Gosseyn gets jerked around the whole time and carted back and forth, he's just a tool. Crang is more so the hero of the story.
I'm going to read the sequel but I think I want to check out War on the Rull first, that sounds good, and I want to see how a fix-up novel holds together because I'm skeptical of the concept.

>>19999763
This book. I've never read such drivel. His first and third books were okay, what the fuck happened here?
Substituting the characters' personalities for ethnicities(and a CRAPLOAD of woke bullshit), mighty convenient plot contrivances, and the lead character is as close as you get to a Mary Sue. What the fuck man? Was this guy dipping into the lefty cult and then dipped out before starting his 3rd book?
It's interesting that he does have a small debate in the 3rd book b/w 2 characters on woke stuff and ends up giving equal weight to both sides.

>>20002720
Silly anon, obviously we need Octavia Butler to finish A Song of Ice and Fire.

>>20004664
is she any good? she came up when i was talking about amazon lotr

What are some good comic /sffg/ like Discworld or the first 2 books of HHGTTG?

>>20004729
Barry Hughart's three Master Li novels are funny, though not entirely comic. The thing is they're a little different from what you might have in mind (mytho-fantasy China).

>>20004737
They don't need to be entirely comic. Even if you removed all of the jokes from Discworld I'd love it.

>>20004681
Nope, pretty meh

>>20004764
I reread books 2 and 3 last year and found 2 quite funny. It's called Story of the Stone.

Should I readhouse of leaves?
the size is daunting, I don't want another repeat of infinite jest

>>20004792
Don't force yourself to read everything in the margins. Some of it is data that I suspect was intended to be skipped over.
Matter of fact, you could read it just for the Navidson record (that's the part you showed up for) and if you're interested enough, go back through it again and read the Johnny sections. (Johnny is the guy who finds the Navidson record). There's a couple of interesting Johnny passages where he's investigating the origin of the record, but for the most part they are random vignettes of his sexual encounters, which are frequently funny, but irrelevant to the greater plot and seemingly even to the greater themes of the story.

tldr it seems big, in practice you can skip half of it

>>20004824
got it, thanks for the confidence boost, I think I'm gonna read it now, been interested in reading it for quite some time but I've been putting it off

>>20001282
>They aren't connected to his current cosmere series
What are you talking about? The Cosmere Universe includes multiple series. Three of the new books take place in it.

>>20002349
based

>>20005196
He's probably talking about Stormlight when he says "current series".

>>20003014
>The first two are pretty decent
And he wrote 20 of them

>>20004792
House of Leaves is nowhere near the size of Infinite Jest. It has has pages that are completely black or only have a few words each.

>>20000095
I’m not sure what short story that was but any Conan story written by Howard is incredible.
If you want a good collection, then get the Ballantine Books edition but you can also find “The Phoenix and the Sword” online for free.

>>20005460
>online for free
Shit, you can easily obtain the delphi complete works of robert e. howard, I just looked at it, it's over 5000 pages epub format

Is there a Dracula origin story that uses the backstory he has in Dracula?

>>20004729
I loved a lot reading the first book of Phule's Company. I have to read the other books in the series at some time. But the first book is great.

>>20006056
*laughed a lot

When did the sci-fi and fantasy generals get merged?
t. haven't visited /lit/ in well over a year

finally got to the cuckolding part. thanks for the recommendation bakkerbros. kino!

>>20005335
...and? Are we not going to read Hyperion or Dune now because the series turns to shit eventually? As long as the books are self-contained it's not a problem.

Reading A Thousand Li and man, the writing is making it difficult to read. The English is serviceable, but the prose is so repetitive... There so no rhythm at all. I’ve not read anything like it before.

>>20006285
It's been sffg for a lot longer than a year.

>>20006446
I won't. Unless I want to.

What do you guys think of Slade House?

It's my first time reading David Mitchell and after one chapter I'm not getting hooked. Worth powering through or look elsewhere?

>>20006446
I was about to start Hyperion. Can you read only one of the book and still get a decent ending like in Dune?

>>20006446
but then you know the original books and like them, and know that they were milked and their memory and legacy tainted later, you don't mind that? i always prefer works that have no sequels or reboots or anything so that there's no chance that they are ruined

>>20006475
just read the two hyperion books and stop

>>20006482
>but then you know the original books and like them, and know that they were milked and their memory and legacy tainted later, you don't mind that?
No, because if it's popular and the original author doesn't milk it to death, someone less deserving will. Some people only have one or two good books in them. As long as they don't inextricably tie the good parts to the shit like asoiaf I don't care.

>>19999953
The Lord of the Rings is good, but I the other works, such as the Children of Húrin of even the Silmarillion were better.

>>20000759
1000 hours in ms paint

>>20006482
>and know that they were milked and their memory and legacy tainted later, you don't mind that?

Shitty sequels cannot retroactively make the original stories worse. Even if they do some bullshit like the star wars disney sequels and say "yeah remember all the progress they made from start to finish of their story? Yeah it all gets nonsensically undone shortly after so we can milk the story further"

>>20006803
saved

Is the Name of the Wind worth the read bro?
I need some escapism with an engrossing story to cope right now.

>>20007110
Have you tried reading it and finding out if it’s worth reading?

>>20007110
There are better options, what specifically are you looking for?

>>20007110
It's not worth reading until the trilogy is finished, otherwise you're just asking to spend the next ten years going from loving it to hating it and seriously considering logging onto minecraft and gathering the supplies necessary to innawoods trek to his place and take the manuscript from him by force.

How do I figure out what are reasonable limits to faustian bargains? The deals don't really grant super powers, do they?

Just watched Good Omens. Is it worth reading it now or should I wait until I've forgotten more of the show?

>>20007208
I just want to know what's behind the fucking door in the lower floors of the university. What the FUCK.

>>20007353
I just want to finish the story. Even though I hate it now, I still need to finish it so I can walk away properly.
And that fat fuck knows that, which is why he won't do it.

>>20007358
I read that at first as, "I need it so I can walk properly", kek

>>20004377
That's a tough question. What counts as protagonist? The main character of Cradle is Lindon but the actual protagonist is Eithan, for example. A lot of stories have a similiar set up for that manner, where one character is the main audience viewpoint who we can empathize with but another character is the actual mover of the plot.

>>20007393
I dont want to meet the man who has an asshole that loose.

>>20007414
should I continue reading Cradle? I stopped around book 2 which was still pretty damn early in the series but I found better things I Wanted to read but now I ran out

>>20007496
It peaks at book 6.

>>20007496
In practice, I feel Cradle is written in arcs of 3 shorter books. It's especially clear when Wight himself decided to republish the series like that.

The next arc (Skysworn -> Ghostwater -> Underlord) is probably the peak of the series, but Skysworn is quite a bad follow up to Blackflame. So if you're not feeling it by the end of Blackflame then by all means drop it.

>>20004377
Piranesi. Bilbo is also a great choice.

My problem with Bilbo is "what have I got in my pocket?" is fucking stupid and Gollum should've strangled him for that shit.

>>20007110
Some people call the mc a mary sue, and I kinda agree. The "world" is much stronger than him, yet the only thing he truly can't do is making a woman fall in love with him. Plus many other characters that are so interesting and we know so little about.
I love the magic system tho.

>>20006475
Each of the substories in the first book is pretty much a self-contained and complete story

>>20007592
>I love the magic system tho.
many such cases, a good magic system can carry any series

>>20000606
It was alright, I should finish it sometime

>>20007209
No Faustian bargain should be impossible, but practically limited by the severity of unforeseen consequences. If you ask to be God you get instantly trapped alone in a pocket universe for all eternity.

>>20007690
the "all eternity" part kinda goes against the devil's intent though right? the devil doesnt want immortals running around, he wants them dead so he can collect a soul. im just trying to figure out how a world where such bargains are readily available and known can exist without getting extraordinarily ridiculous. i keep coming back to the typical djinn restrictions (no killing, no bringing back the dead, no free will influences)

>>20000759
I really don't get why people praise this kind of shit or see it as something positive. What's the point of writing 300 books if they're all shit? Much better to write just 3 but great ones.

Sanderson is the fast food of literature. Always the same soulless shit produced as fast as possible. Dull writing, stereotyped characters, cliché plots, retarded "genius plot twists" that never manage to save the book. 2/10.

>>20000759
What infuriates me about people like Sanderson is that they don't even try. They don't even try to write something original, ballsy, thought-provoking. They always choose the safe option of regurgitating what has already sold in the past.

>>20004664
can't tell if being overtly stupid or cleverly trolling...

>>20003210
Kek, it's just communism

>>20000759
>>20007849
I'm a fan of Sanderson but not his works.

>>20007318
it's gaiman, it's not worth reading the paper it's printed on.

seriously, the man has 1 original or interesting idea and then proceeds to fumble the execution of it in every. single. book.

good omens is ok, but that's more pratchett's doing than gaiman's

>>20000759
Fun and kind of impressive. I'm sure his fans are very happy about this

Whats the best magic academy you've seen in a novel?

>>20008046
I can't even remember Wizard's Hall even though I read it. Hogwarts is genuinely a great setting let down by its hack author.

The Mage Errant series provides a lot of potential for a really cool magic school story but the sequel abandons it and turns it into gay action shit.

Arcane Ascension also had the opportunity to be a cool magic story but again it turned into gay shit.

I don't even like Sanderson, but this is some hilarious cope. Especially since this faggot is also (barely) a straight white male and signed to a tradpub.

>>20008061
I didn't know Sanderson was a black woman, huh you learn something every day.

>>20008046
IDK what you mean by "best" but my favorite magic academy series is the Black Magician trilogy by Trudi Canavan. Though the protagonist doesn't really join it til the second book, and is expelled by the start of the third.

Fuck bros I'm really loving ASOIAF
About a quarter way through a clash of kings and it's great
Picked up the blood of elves for $1 today, any good? Do I need to read any of the previous books?

>>20007110
Nah. The first book had promise but the second book was a letdown and Rothfus burned himself out writing it, apparently, and hasn't published anything in over a decade. I find it hard to recommend to anybody now.

>>20007861
Sanderson writes what he likes, which is really low effort video gamey fantasy. Sounds like you're just bitter that your favorite author doesn't have his work ethic. I kinda wish my top 5 authors had half his work ethic, personally.

>>20006285
/sffg/ has been a thing for like 8 years.

>>20005204
Mistborn is also technically an ongoing series.

>>20002733
Nobody will, GRRM put it into his will that nobody will finish his series if he dies. We'll get Winds of Winter, posthumously, and that's it.

>>20000759
>thoughts?
He's much more arrogant than I remember him being

>>20003210
lol, its a fucking chobani yoghurt commercial

>>20008046
I feel like academy settings are just rare

>>20007209
>>20007690
>>20007843
You find faults in the small print. That's the unforeseen and dangerous risk.

>>20007843
>typical djinn restrictions (no killing, no bringing back the dead, no free will influences)
These aren't bound rules but popularised. You can make up your own rules if you want to
>t. was working on a djinn horror

>>20000264
The map alone makes it look generic as fuck

>>20007861
>ballsy, thought-provoking
So sjw and progressive shit?

>>20003097
Fair enough, he probably got bored as fuck of killing people with the voice after his first millennium.

>>20007584
The narrator does note that this wasn't a fair question, but that Gollum fucked up by accepting it and trying to guess instead of demanding a different one.

Do you think it's a bad look to gift your younger cousins and nieces/nephews used books?
I like going to charity shops a lot and I sometimes feel like buying books for them that I see but will I look like a poor scumbag doing this?
I have a 10 year old cousin who really loves sci/fantasy and I've love to give him some good books

>>20008506
Also I should add that I'm very poor so obviously they all know I'm poor
I'm just very insecure about it because I'm the poorest person in the family

Defenestrate all bakkerfags

>warrior/soldier women
Dropped. There are limits to how much I can suspend my disbelief.

>>20008506
>>20008512
Really weird reasoning. The only way you'd look like a scumbag is if the cousin specifically told you he wanted a toy car instead of a book. What books are you planning to gift him?

>>20008617
Well I saw a complete his dark materials for $3 in good condition, earthsea, sabriel, the hobbit, the lord of the rings, Terry Pratchett books although I've never seen those where I shop before, skullduggery pleasant, rangers apprentice, etc
I'm not planning on gifting anything, I haven't bought anything because I'm too afraid people will judge me

>>20007903
>black woman who isn't even a fantasy author should finish ASOIAF
>can't tell if you're trolling
ngmi

>>20008553
Brainlet detected

>>20008690
I could post gore of beheaded kurd "soldier" women here to make my point. And where are the kurds now? Under the heel of Assad, is where.

>>20008061
It's always hilarious to me how easy it is for these people to dismiss someone because of their ethnicity and gender and claim to not be racist or sexist.

>>20008738
>I could post gore of beheaded kurd "soldier" women here to make my point.
You can post the same of male soldiers as well. Where's your point now?

>>20009162
The point is that in both pictures it is still a man doing the beheading.

Is this good

>>20009283
Yes.

Does anyone else get bored of action scenes? I’m a fairly new reader (~30 books) and I just realized I get really bored of action scenes and kind of tune them out as I’m reading

>>20009310
I don't mind them
sometimes when I'm feeling it I'll read it
but most of the time I'll just skip ahead, usually depends on the author, some do it very well and you can feel the flow of action and momentum of the scene, those I like
the ones I skip over are the bad ones, the ones that write their scenes like snap shots of a scene, static feeling, no momentum

What are some good comic /sffg/ like Discworld or the first 2 books of HHGTTG?

>>20009310
Action scenes unless I feel actual stakes AND care who is fighting, and long detailed descriptions of places that don't have anything but aesthetic purposes are my pet peeves. I didn't finish LotR for the latter reason.

What do these genres even mean? And which of these are actually worth reading, assuming I've read none?

>>20008648
do it nigga
it's 3 bucks for hdm, what do you have to lose?

>>20009333
>>20009356
I was trying to read some 40k books and I love the atmosphere, world building, and pretty much everything about it but the action scenes kill me with boredom. It’s not like Abnett is a bad writer, I think he’s great.

>>20009380
This is one reason I'm hesitant to ever touch a 40k book. The other two reasons being I have doubts of any book based on a game or show being good, and because I've heard people talk about how it's sweaty and homoerotic.

>>20009352
Why'd you ask the same question twice in one thread?

>>20009394
Why'd you change your name to a female one?

>>20003210
>Everyone is publicly gender neutral, using they/them pronouns
>reading an entire book where everyone is referred as "they"
That would be extremely awkward to read

>>20003210
>The Earth of Terra Ignota has seen several centuries of near-total peace and prosperity.
Based.

>Technology is very advanced.
Neutral.

>Food can be synthesized.
Good for poor and busy people. Sad if people stop cooking.

>The workweek is 20 hours, but vocateurs, or vokers, voluntarily work much more because they love what they do.
Based.

>Everyone is publicly gender neutral, using they/them pronouns.
Puke.

Families are no longer nuclear, but are organized into co-housing collectives called bash'houses (from the Japanese i-basho, meaning 'home' but stronger).
Puke.

>>20009422
The narrator uses he/she based on behavior rather than sex

>>20009443
That is considerably less annoying at least.

>>20009436
It's daft, I don't see how anybody can think using nongendered pronouns could have an effect on inequality or oppression.

>>20009483
The author thinks nongendered pronouns is a bad thing because of what it erases. A lot of stuff in the books is showing why the included stuff is bad but that seems to elude a lot of people.

>>20008648
Do it faggot. Buy the books. Gift the books.

>>20009443
>based on behavior rather than sex
So instead of just labeling someone based on basic sex biology now all characters have their past behaviors tracked, tallied, and compared to historical stereotypes of how biological sexes behaved based on stereotypes that in that world view should not exist because the behaviors are so independent of sex that we shouldn't assign gender based on sex to begin with?

Am I getting that right?

>>20009499
That's equally daft. It can't erase anything. It's too petty and shrewish a thing to be more than a nuisance that embitters its social subjects to their rule-makers.

>>20009514
One thing I will give the author credit for is she acknowledges gender non-binary behavior is about diluting sex drive and keeping people from breeding. It's neo-puritanism, and Richard Spencer is right about puritans.
>captch basedgr

>>20009514
No, the narrator assigns them arbitrarily and isn't consistent.

>>20007110
>Is the Name of the Wind worth the read bro?
No. Overhyped, reddit-tier fantasy with an MC that's more cucked than all the incels on this board. You're better off reading something else. I dropped it halfway and literally threw the book away.

>>20009356
>and long detailed descriptions of places that don't have anything but aesthetic purposes

This is the only thing fantasy is good for.

>>20009310
There are bad action scenes and good action scenes. Good ones are the same as anything in a book that is good, it weaves drama and character together and moves the plot forward in the most aesthetic manner the author can manage. Exactly like if the author were writing any other kind of scene. Again, assuming we have a good author.

Bad action scenes on the other hand feel like everything has ground to a halt, that the book has become purely descriptive. They don't feel like anything other than a report, and worse that this is what the writer primarily cares about, that everything else is a pretense to write the 40 page shootout of his dreams.

>>20008046
>>20008280
Magic schools are a dime a dozen these days. Just search for academy book son goodreads and see the walls of trash.

>>20009825
Yea I get what you mean. Sometimes it’s just way too fucking detailed.

I was thinking about starting The Dark Tower series, does it have this problem with over detailed action sequences?

What are some fantasy adventure novels that have a well done romance?

>>20009310
I get bored of them when they're too focused on details. It can feel like I'm watching a youtube breakdown vid of a boxing match or something as opposed to reading about an exciting battle.

There was a book that was shilled here a while back, with a name something like Twin Flames, The Two Fires, The Pale Fires or something like that.
It had a red cover with maybe a skeleton in armor (?) and was generally described as medieval grimdark.
I think it was about a plague?
Also prolly not the one by Nabokov.
Does anyone remember this? Can't find it on google.

>>20010101
I also prefer more 'artsy' descriptions of action in fantasy these days; especially if the writer has good prose.

>>20010110
Between Two Fires

>>20010110
Yep between two fires and it was probably me that shilled it

>>20010032
Looking for something like that, too. Read pic rel a week ago, which was soft sci-fi with sex and romance. Not very good, mind you, but enough to want me to read more, but better written, with more believable characterisation. Either fantasy or sci-fi, I don't care.

Hey guys,

Has anyone read the accursed kings? I am looking for something similar to GoT and keep seeing it recommended (political intrigue, betrayal, murder etc). If you've read the series is it worth starting?

I've got the following but just can't get into any of them:

Dragonbone Chair
Malazen
Wheel of Time
Way of Kings

Any recommendations, i want something violent and political (I've already read the Blade Itself).

Thanks!

>>20010764
Farseer trilogy and the following series?
The Steel Remains and the two following books.
Maybe not exactly what you're looking for because they lack either the one or the other, but eh.

>>20003601
The characterization is different enough imo for most of them that it wasn't a problem for me. Was easy for me to imagine a more stoic face for the literary, unwavering Aragorn, the less warm Gandalf. Frodo was easy, basically just a 50-yr old midget with a twink face (how else could you describe Sam's infatuation?)

Gimli, however, I could not shake from Rhys-Davies

I started this recently, it’s pretty fucking good

Pls frens, what's a good site to download free warhammer fantasy books?

>>20010882
Z-lib has a lot of them

>>20010891
thanks a lot, fren.

>>20010882
Demonoid, Black Library Collection.

>>20010878
based

>>20010958
>Demonoid
WEW those were the days

>>20010970
Were? it goes down then it pops back up, like piratebay but not popular.

Authors that write in present tense are hacks, and probably Chinese as well!

>>20011062
>>20011062
>writing in present tense
Surely no one is actually doing this

>>20010878
What is it with Catholics that make them such great writers, bros?

>>20011067
Divine superiority? Moral superiority?

>>20007110
I'm reading it now. It's engrossing and an easy read with decent prose but there's something about it that's not quite right. After thinking on it awhile I think it's that it's too modern and it bothers me. The way the characters think and talk and some of the way the world functions, like how they have a solid grasp of chemistry, even calling it chemistry, yet no gunpowder. It just feels so off, not the vibe I turn to fantasy for.
However it's not bad and I'm curious to see where it goes and learn more about the Chandry and such.

>>20011116
It does the hogwarts thing but slightly more mature and less jewish.
But holy fuck does it push the cuckoldry angle HARD with Denna

>>20011123
You don't know what an alpha chad move it is to have the girl you're simping for fuck other guys smdh

>>20011248
>me, simp for a woman
All my keks!
Nah, I'm on the other side of that coin.

Just finished the first book in this series and I quite enjoyed it. It's a bit heavy on the made up words, which I'm never a huge fan of, but it really works in a nautical setting. The words feel real and not just replacing real ones with made up slang. Positions on the ship aren't just renamed, they're changed. And things like how the characters have slang like shortening deckkeeper to d-keeper akin to bosun/boatswain make it feel authentic. I really like how you're just thrown into the setting and the plot and there's not five chapters explaining what a bone ship is and showing Joren's alcoholism. It just gets to it and doesn't treat you like a retard or like you're reading for this made up world - you're reading for the characters and story and the world exists to inform that.

Two things stick out, the first being a very obvious and amateurish Chekhov's gun setup, including one time where the character remembers the line, 'it'll work when it needs to' as he's thinking about using the move. The second was the ending line - not the ending in general just the last line. It was literally character a says, "It's over," and then character b responds, "No, it's just beginning. Other than that, the major flaw is with the secondary characters. They kind of come in and out pretty quickly and they aren't fleshed out too much. Like with the girl Joren beats and she becomes his bodyguard after. She basically disappears partway through the book.

But overall, I loved it and immediately started the second when I finished. I'll let you know if my opinions change, but I'm hoping to give it a full 4/4 if the other two are just as good.

>>20011312
>It's a bit heavy on the made up words
All words are made up, anon.

>>20011318
Go away, Vinny.

>>20011334
This reference was not recieved.

>>20011344
Oh sorry, it was actually the singer from Radiohead that said it. Vinny's just the guy that made it into a meme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORVgy1E402E

>>20011377
Figures that Archer isn't original =/

>>20003877
yeah, it's not fantasy (some call it "fantasy of manner"), it's cool and kind of modern gothic literature. apparently inspired many speculative writers for its style and yes it's cool. i've to read the second book

>>20011389
>i've to read
See, I know that technically this is correct english (I have, abbreviated) but it looks wrong and feels so very wrong on the tongue.
"I've to" makes me feel retarded without adding a "yet" in between, even though that would change the meaning you intend to convey ever so slightly.

>>19999763
does anyone care tha a new elric is due in december?
i think moorcock is writing other two books: the sequels of the wispering swarm and one other i don't remember

>>20009804
Then paint a painting.

>>20011399
mmh thanks for your advice i'm ESLretard

>>20010878
YEAH very good.
i'm reading FIAT HOMO, the second part right now

>>20011417
>i'm ESLretard
Okay, but I did say that is correct english.
There is no error there, it just looks weird /to me/ and while I'm pretty sure that I'm in the norm with that, that may be due to my status as a north american.

>>20011312
Thanks. I like nautical fantasy so I'll check this out.

>>20011404
I had no idea. Moorcock doesn't seem especially good at marketing himself, given how much of a fantasy staple he is. I'll certainly pick them up and enjoy them though.

It will be interesting to see how the modern fantasy landscape reacts to them, if at all. Would be nice to see more Elric clones than Sanderson wannabes.

I finally bought it. What should I expect?
>>20011404
I'm waiting for an actual modern Omnibus.

>>20009380
The best stories are war chronicles or campaign logs in 40k.

>>20009565
So a man born with a penis is referred to as "She" depending on his actions/behaviour at any given moment?

>>20011496
to be fair that should be the standard today.
>Simp for a woman
>Be a cuck
>etc
You don't get to use "male," sweaty

>>20011518
I can't exactly argue with this because I have, in fact, called men women or even decalred them sexless, for the spineless ball-less nature of their behaviours.
But that was entirely derisive in nature, I would not do so on a critical analytical basis for sincere everyday use.

>>20011491
i already have all elric books in various format so i didn't buy them but there are these: aren't they actually modern? what's an actual modern omnibus specifically?

>>20011540
One major book published within the last 5 years is my arbitrary definition. I hate buying volumes.

>>20001393
>first person is repulsive
I would agree, but I've read Book of the Kino Sun, anonkun, so I'm afraid your opinon is wrong

>>20011543
>I hate buying volumes.
mmh fair enough. i prefer smaller format because i use them to read and am not a fan of collection giant books (not that erlic saga would be that big)

>>20000633
>>20000618

Sounds to me like you're saying he's a bad writer

>>20011404
Damn that's awesome
>>20011491
The first volume of new Elric complete just came out in December

>>20011599
Oh shit nice.

>>20008512
>>20008506
In my homble opinion, friendanon, when it comes to gifting you should try to gift new things. Spend more on your family than you would on yourself. This is the way. If you genuinely can't afford new books for them, then you shouldn't stress about it or worry about what they think of you- they should understand, BUT you, yourself, should want to give them things that are new simply because that's better. This is the way

For fuck's sake, Sanderson's kickstarter is about to hit $20-fucking-million...

>>20011775
And? What's the problem?

>>20011775
They don't call them the Jews of the West for nothing.

>>20011775
so?

>>20011778
>>20011789
Sanderson writes and that anon doesn’t. You can see why he seethes.

>>20011540
Sell me on Elric what’s it like?

>>20011778
>>20011789
It's not a problem, it's just fucking insane. Why does he need a publisher at all, he's just shown he can make more money that any other author all on his own...

>>20011792
you don't think this would make published authors seethe as well?

>>20011809
It has happened in the past before, it’s why a few western publishers started getting self-publish authors after they make it big.

New thread
>>20011817

>>20011814
>it’s why a few western publishers started getting self-publish authors after they make it big.
I only know of one, Sara J Mass, the author of Throne of Glass, which was an original fic in Fiction Press.

>>20011312
I read this a whole ago. I thought it was pretty good. The terminology and general worldbuilding were cool, even though some things were silly. I especially like the Guillame. I thought that was a really cool and enigmatic fantasy creature. The main weakness I think is that if you boil down to the essential character arcs they just feel super linear. Just at the end of the day I didn't really care about any of the characters, although that is subjective to some degree.

>>20011116
I think for me just the section where he's a thief was too long. Like I get how the length is sort of necessary because he's been dragged him down into this grim and seamy underbelly of this city into a harsh life he never feels like he's going to escape, but it's still just such a decent chunk of the book for something that just isn't very entertaining and has little material impact on the overall plot for the most part.

>>20011407
No